The estate of a man who died inside the psychiatric unit of the New Hampshire State Prison is seeking financial damages, alleging the state’s Department of Corrections failed to adequately train and supervise corrections officers.
Jason Rothe, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, died in April 2023 after being restrained face down by corrections officers inside the prison's secure psychiatric unit, or SPU. The SPU, though not a licensed mental health facility, houses people with severe mental illness who are deemed a danger to themselves or others, including people like Rothe who are not serving criminal sentences.
In a civil lawsuit filed in federal court Wednesday, Rothe’s sister alleges corrections officers “used unlawful force” against Rothe while attempting to get him to leave a common area of the facility. The suit alleges officers kneeled on Rothe’s back, struck him repeatedly in the head, and deployed multiple Tasers during the altercation.
In a statement, the family’s attorneys said, “this tragedy sheds light on a systemic failure within the New Hampshire Department of Corrections to provide proper training for its corrections officers and follow the policies and practices outlined by law to keep patients safe.”
"Jason struggled with severe mental illness, and his family trusted the state with his care,” the attorneys said. “He did not deserve to be brutally killed while in that care.”
The lawsuit names seven individual employees who allegedly took part in the incident, as well as Helen Hanks, the department’s former commissioner, who is accused of failing to properly investigate and document what happened.
The New Hampshire Attorney General’s office said it would review the complaint and “respond as appropriate in court.”
Following Rothe’s death, prosecutors charged Matthew Millar, who was part of the team of officers involved in the struggle with Rothe, with second-degree murder. Millar was accused of pressing his knee into Rothe’s back while he lay handcuffed on the floor, preventing him from getting enough air.
A jury, though, found Millar not guilty following a trial last summer. Though a state medical examiner initially ruled Rothe’s death a homicide, an expert hired by Millar concluded that Rothe, who was obese and suffered from an enlarged heart, likely died from a heart attack, not asphyxia.
Millar, who is no longer employed by the department, is listed as a defendant in the civil suit, as are five other current or former corrections officers. A registered nurse who responded to the altercation is also named as a defendant.
Rothe's was the second death of a person housed in the SPU following prone restraint by officers since 2017.
Rothe, who was 50 years old when he died, was transferred to the SPU in August 2022 after he had been civilly committed and admitted as a patient at New Hampshire Hospital. Court records show Rothe suffered from periods of delusion and could be hostile towards prison staff. In the days preceding his death, he was accused of punching a corrections officer in the head.
On April 29, 2023, Rothe allegedly refused to leave a common area inside the facility, according to court records, and threatened any corrections officers who entered the room. After deciding to forcibly remove Rothe from the room, a team of officers approached Rothe, prompting a struggle.
Rothe was repeatedly tased by a corrections officer and struck in the head with a radio, the lawsuit alleges, before he was finally handcuffed while on his stomach. According to a court affidavit filed by the state ahead of Millar's trial, Millar allegedly pinned Rothe face down on the floor for several minutes, his knee pressed into Rothe's back, until he stopped moving. The lawsuit alleges officers then were unable to find a pulse and began CPR on Rothe. He was later pronounced dead at Concord Hospital.
The suit alleges that corrections staff were trained in the risks of restraining inmates in prone positions, but failed to follow guidelines during their encounter with Rothe.
“We seek to ensure that the DOC changes its training, policies, and supervision to prevent such horrific and unnecessary deaths and injuries in the future,” the family’s attorneys said.
NHPR has previously reported that the risks of restraining people face down have been part of the training curriculum for New Hampshire corrections officers since at least 2013.
Hanks, who resigned as corrections commissioner last year, is accused in the lawsuit of failing to ensure her staff was appropriately trained and prepared. The suit also alleges she led a faulty internal review of the incident, and improperly shredded some personal notes taken during interviews with the corrections officers.
