Trammell’s family filed the civil rights action against the county, Naphcare Inc. and several county and Naphcare employees in Dayton’s federal district court this month.
Communications representatives of Montgomery County and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment due to pending litigation.
Montgomery County assistant communications director Danielle Malagarie said the county is working toward a large-scale renovation of the jail, with plans to finalize the design by May and begin construction in July. The project is expected to be completed by spring 2027, she said.
The Dayton Daily News reached also reached out to a spokesperson for Naphcare, Inc., who has not responded as of Friday afternoon.
The lawsuit alleges Trammell’s civil rights were violated during his brief time in the county jail.
Trammell was arrested on March 12 by Lebanon Police Department officers after a neighbor called in reporting a possible domestic violence incident at Trammell’s apartment. Trammell was alone at the time of the report, talking to his uncle on the phone.
“Although Isaiah had committed no crime, the Lebanon officers ran Isaiah’s Social Security number and found an old domestic violence warrant issued by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. Neither Isaiah nor his family had known this warrant existed,” the lawsuit states. “It was mistakenly issued: Isaiah’s mother later learned it arose from a wellness check conducted when Isaiah was having difficulty self-regulating. Autistic individuals like Isaiah are often subject to wellness checks for similar episode.”
Trammell was later transferred to Montgomery County Jail. The lawsuit states he disclosed his autism to corrections officers when he arrived at the pre-trial facility.
While in the facility’s outer receiving room, Trammell began banging his head against a wall — something his family has said he has done during stressful periods as a form of “stimming.” The 19-year-old also disclosed to a Naphcare mental health professional that he “didn’t want to live,” the lawsuit says.
He was placed on suicide watch and was taken to a watch cell, where he continued to pace around the cell and bang his head on windows and walls. Trammell did not have a mattress in his cell and told corrections officers that he could not sleep on concrete. Corrections officers told him he could not have a bed while on suicide watch, according to the lawsuit.
Trammell was later put into a restraint chair, where he continued screaming and thrashing around. Security camera footage shows him pleading with jail staff for help. He lost consciousness while in the chair.
Dayton Fire Department medical personnel arrived at the jail and noted Trammell had a large bruise on the right side of his forehead.
Trammell was taken to an area hospital for further treatment, where he died after being in a coma for three days. His official cause of death was ruled as blunt force trauma to the head, and the coroner’s examination of Trammell revealed significant brain injuries, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit alleges that Naphcare staff and corrections officers acted “negligently, recklessly, wantonly, willfully, knowingly, intentionally and with deliberate indifference to the serious medical needs of Isaiah.”
Trammell’s death was among seven Montgomery County inmate deaths reported in 2023 from January through July, and in December 2023, a man died after being transferred from the jail to the hospital.
“We support the family’s pursuit of justice and accountability for the deadly abuse Isaiah endured in the jail,” the Montgomery County Jail Coalition said in a statement released to the newspaper on Friday.
A Dayton Daily News analysis of state data showed more people died after coming into custody at the Montgomery County jail that year than any other jail in Ohio. The Dayton Daily News investigated what was causing this rash of fatalities, and what county officials were doing about it.
Trammell’s family is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.
“Every member of Isaiah’s family has suffered an irreplaceable loss of joy and companionship, as well as their own mental anguish, loss of services, loss of society, loss of companionship, loss of care and assistance, and loss of any chance of inheritance from him,” the lawsuit states.
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office has previously called Trammell’s death an “unspeakable tragedy” and said the community needs a medical space for people to go when they’re experiencing a mental health crisis.
Sheriff’s office officials in a statement to the Dayton Daily News last year said the ODRC’s Bureau of Detention reviewed the death of Isaiah Trammell, finding no “deficiencies” in how the sheriff’s office handled the fatality.
But a state review of inmate deaths at the Montgomery County Jail in 2023 found the facility operated in violation of state standards related to security observation checks, pre-screening and detoxication policies, according to the Montgomery County Jail Coalition.
The jail submitted a list of plans to the state department to bring itself into compliance. These plans included the reprogramming of the jail’s electronic health record program, updating its process for using medications for opioid-use disorder, the creation of a detox area and the addition of comfort medications as an option for inmates, according to the coalition.
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