Family files $34 million lawsuit after inmate commits suicide at Norfolk prison

NORFOLK, Virginia – The family of Philemon Vinson is seeking $34 million in damages after he allegedly committed suicide while incarcerated at the Norfolk City Jail.

The lawsuit names several people, including Norfolk Sheriff Joseph Baron, the sheriff's office chief of staff, a deputy and staff member of the psychiatric department.

According to court documents, Vinson was booked into jail on August 14, 2022, for failure to appear in court. A judge denied Vinson's bail.

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The lawsuit alleges that Vinson voluntarily submitted to a mental health and suicide risk screening. During the screening, he answered “yes” to a question about whether he felt he had no future or whether he felt hopeless/helpless.

Such a report, the allegations say, would require urgent follow-up measures to prevent suicide.

However, the lawsuit states that the nurse and counselor who worked with Wellpath LLC – the third-party company the prison uses for medical and psychological services – count Vinson as part of the general prison population.

According to the lawsuit, Wellpath's consultant, who later became director of the prison's mental health services, prepared a memo showing that Vinson denied any plans to harm himself and stated he would never hurt himself.

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In reality, according to the lawsuit, Vinson did not have a single contact with a psychiatrist during his four-day stay in prison.

The lawsuit states that prison officers are required to check on inmates at least every 30 minutes. This is called “rounds.” Officers must look into each cell and watch for anything unusual. They then tap their phones on an electronic receiver to send an acknowledgement.

On the day Vinson died, the deputy in charge of his block never checked into his cell, even though he had signed in as an offender, the lawsuit says. It wasn't until nearly four hours after Vinson committed suicide that the deputy found Vinson dead in his cell, according to court documents.

Randy Singer, the attorney for Jamie Vinson, Philemon's mother and executor of his estate, provided the following statement to News 3's Jay Greene.

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“Philemon's death is so tragic because it could have been so easily prevented. If the sheriff's staff and deputies or Wellpath had provided basic mental health services or followed their own procedures or simply evaluated inmates as they should, Philemon would still be alive today. Nothing can bring him back, but his family does not want anyone else to ever have to go through what they endured.”

The sheriff's office said it could not yet comment on the case.

We also reached out to Wellpath LLC for comment and are still awaiting a response.

The lawsuit includes four counts of involuntary manslaughter totaling $14 million. There is another count of involuntary manslaughter (negligence, gross negligence, and willful and wanton negligence) totaling $10 million against the sheriff and deputy. A sixth count is for $10 million for deprivation of civil rights.