LOGAN — Attorneys for a Logan woman have filed an updated lawsuit alleging police and Cache County jailers failed to take adequate steps to prevent her husband’s suicide.

Jose Mena died Sept. 21, 2016, of hanging in the county jail. His death was one of a record 25 at county jails in Utah that year.

A suit filed in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City by Nancy Rodriguez, Mena’s widow, is one of at least four around the state still pending against jails for alleged indifferent medical care or other negligence leading to death.

Mena, 33, was arrested Sept. 3, 2016, on charges including possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person and domestic violence.

After 17 days behind bars, Mena hanged himself with a rolled-up bedsheet hung from a crack in the top of his bunk bed, according to the lawsuit.

Rodriguez’s suit was filed in 2018, naming Cache County as the defendant. But her attorney on Thursday, April 16, filed an amended complaint, adding Logan City as a defendant.

Logan officers arrested Mena after an altercation involving his wife and children, according to 1st District Court records.

In the lawsuit, Rodriguez said Mena obtained a hunting rifle and several cooking knives and threatened to kill himself.

She said the family was able to pry the weapons away from Mena, but some of them were cut or otherwise harmed in the fracas.

Family members conveyed to police their concerns about Mena’s suicidal intentions, the lawsuit says.

It asserts the Logan Police Department failed to have or follow proper training, policies or procedures on reporting of such detainee information to jail deputies.

The suit further faults the jail for allegedly insufficient assessment and treatment of inmates with apparent medical and mental health needs.

Mena talked to other inmates about hanging himself and occasionally could be heard crying in his cell, the lawsuit contends.

Further, multiple jailers observed Mena moving around in his cell rolling up his bedsheets, the suit says.

“Despite making a mental note that this was out of the ordinary for an inmate to be rolling up his bedsheets, (jailers) did not report or otherwise investigate the situation or otherwise take precautions,” the suit adds.

After Mena was found hanging, one of the initial responding jailers said he didn’t want to cut Mena down because he knew the cell was going to be treated as a crime scene, according to the suit. Preservation of the scene is a common protocol after a jail death.

Other jailers brought a seat belt cutter to sever the sheet, but it was inadequate. They finally got Mena down by lifting him and freeing the sheet from above the bunk, the lawsuit says.

“Defendants knew or should have known that Jose Mena was suffering from mental illness, yet disregarded this affliction by failing to take reasonable measures to abate it,” the suit says.

Mena’s constitutional rights were violated by the defendants’ alleged deliberate indifference to his medical, mental health and safety needs, the suit alleges.

Cache County Sheriff Chad Jensen declined to discuss Mena’s case because of the litigation, but he said Friday the jail operates with sound policies.

“We’ve always had great policies of suicide prevention and in the construction in our facility,” Jensen said. “We absolutely take that very seriously.”

He said his office has participated extensively in the state’s work on county jail issues since alarms were raised about the wave of deaths statewide.

Kristen VanOrman, a risk management attorney representing the government defendants in the Rodriguez suit, did not respond to a request for comment.

NEED HELP? 

Those thinking of harming themselves have several resources available:

Weber Human Services emergency or crisis services, 801 625-3700. 

Davis Behavioral Health 24-Hour Crisis Response Line, 801-773-7060

National Suicide Prevention Hotline, 1-800-273-8255

National Alliance on Mental Illness Utah, 801-323-9900

Family Counseling Service of Northern Utah, 801-399-1600

Intermountain McKay-Dee Hospital Behavioral Health, 801-387-5600

Davis Hospital: Behavioral Health Unit and Emergency Room, 801-807-1000

Lakeview Hospital: Behavioral Health Unit and Emergency Room, 801-299-2200

Live Hannah’s Hope: Empowering Youth.