Wrongful Death Suit Accuses Tulsa Jail Staff Of Failing To Protect Inmate

A wrongful death lawsuit accuses Tulsa County Jail staff of "knowing an inmate was suicidal, but failing to put him on suicide watch."

He hung himself in his cell the day after the warning.

It was Thanksgiving weekend, 2013, when Destiny Holland said she came to the jail to tell staff her father desperately needed his medication. She said no one listened, and no one cared to stop her father from killing himself.

Destiny said three warnings her dad was suicidal went without action by staff at the Tulsa County Jail.

Her father, Ralph Holland was in jail on a misdemeanor domestic assault charge. He used socks to hang himself in his cell.

"How could that happen when we just told y'all," she asked.

The wrongful death lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Tulsa County against former Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz, the jail's contracted medical services provider and members of jail staff, claims cruel and unusual punishment, stating "defendants ignored Mr. Holland's mental condition and failed to provide any care or take any precautions to prevent [him] from taking his own life."

Attorney Earl Lawson said, "He should have been placed on suicide watch."

Destiny said she went to the jail, twice, to beg the staff to give her father his medication - pain killers and possibly anti-depressants.

She said he made suicide threats before, and when he threatened his life again, on November 30, 2013, Destiny’s mother, Ralph’s ex-wife, called the jail.

"They go and ask the inmate if they're suicidal. If the inmate tells them, no, they're not suicidal...if they tell them they're not suicidal, then they leave it alone," Destiny said.

Tuesday marked two years since Ralph's suicide, two years of asking questions.

Destiny said, "The only answer I got was, 'We asked him if he was suicidal and he said no, and if they say they're not suicidal then we don't do anything about it.'"

Ralph left behind eight children - including a baby girl, now 3-years-old - whom Destiny adopted.

Lawson said the jail is responsible for Ralph's death.

"The state is required to give them what they need," he said.

Destiny said it has taken two years to file the lawsuit because attorneys weren't interested in the case, or were scared to go after the sheriff.

No one with the sheriff's office will comment on pending litigation.