The daughter of a Wisconsin inmate who committed suicide in his cell has filed a federal lawsuit accusing state prison officials of failing to provide her with adequate mental health care and medication.
Dean Hoffman was found dead in his cell at the Waupun Correctional Facility in June, on his ninth day in solitary confinement. He is one of at least three inmates at Waupun to die in 2023. The other two deaths are still under investigation.
Hoffman’s daughter, Megan Hoffman Kolb, filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Milwaukee, seeking unspecified damages.
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Hoffman was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison in February 2023 for kidnapping a woman in 2018. Hoffman’s daughter alleges in the lawsuit that she was suffering from severe mental illness when Hoffman arrived at Waupun in April. Due to the lockdown imposed by Director Randall Hepp in March, he was unable to see a mental health provider for weeks and received medication only sporadically.
The daughter of a Wisconsin inmate who committed suicide in his cell has filed a federal lawsuit.
Guards placed Hoffman in solitary confinement on June 20 after he refused to return to his cell, citing threats from his cellmate. He was found dead in his cell on June 29th. The suit alleges that while in solitary confinement, no one conducted psychological tests on him, that guards told him he could commit suicide, and that guards did not give him any medication. In the morning he committed suicide.
Beth Hardke, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections, said the department does not comment on pending litigation as a matter of policy.
A shortage of guards forced several prisons in Wisconsin to go on lockdown last year, including facilities in Waupun, Green Bay and Stanley. Some movement restrictions have since been eased, but the lockdown remains in place.
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A group of Waupun inmates filed a class-action lawsuit in October in Milwaukee, arguing that the lockdown conditions amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. Megan Hoffman Kolb’s attorney, Lonnie Storey, is also representing the inmate in the case.
