$3.4M settlement reached in death of Penumbra Theatre founder’s son in jail

The founder of St. Paul’s Penumbra Theatre has reached a $3.4 million settlement over his 41-year-old son’s death in the Hennepin County jail.

It’s “believed to be one of the largest settlements ever reached in Minnesota for a death occurring in a jail,” according a court document filed Monday regarding the lawsuit.

Lucas John Bellamy died from an infection in 2022 because there was a hole in his small intestine, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court in January.

“This settlement cannot remotely fill the void left by Lucas’s loss,” said Jeff Storms, the Bellamy family attorney. “However, it is an important step with respect to accountability and responsibility. Our hope is that Lucas’s senseless death has served and will serve to inspire badly needed improvements to correctional care in Minnesota and nationwide.”

Lucas Bellamy’s father, Lou Bellamy — a director, actor, producer and educator — founded Penumbra Theatre in 1976 in St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood. The theater is nationally recognized for its work with Black artists, including Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson. His daughter, Sarah Bellamy, became Penumbra’s president.

Lucas Bellamy “was a father, a son, a brother, an actor, and a loved member of his community,” the lawsuit said.

Settlement’s focus is supporting son

The lawsuit alleged Hennepin County and Hennepin Healthcare wrongfully caused Bellamy’s death, and they and three nurses and a then-sheriff’s office employee violated Bellamy’s constitutional rights.

“Lucas spent the last day of his life detained” at the jail “desperately begging nurses and Jail guards to see a doctor,” his father’s lawsuit said. “His pleas went ignored even though a Hennepin Healthcare provider had ordered that Lucas ‘[r]eturn to the ED [Emergency Department] for any new concerning symptoms.'”

He couldn’t return himself because he was in Hennepin County’s custody.

“Instead of receiving the medical treatment that was ordered and that Lucas desperately needed, Hennepin Healthcare and County employees left Lucas to crawl around on the Jail floor like he was subhuman, like he was an animal, while he slowly and painfully died from the effects of a hole in his intestine,” the lawsuit continued. “Lucas could have been easily saved with proper treatment. Instead, he endured a real-life nightmare and died on July 21, 2022.”

The settlement was reached through mediation and negotiations, according to a court document filed Monday. After attorneys’ fees and funeral expenses, about $2 million is available to Lucas Bellamy’s next of kin with the “primary focus … on supporting” his 11-year-old son, according to a court document.

Hennepin County and Hennepin Healthcare, which runs Hennepin County Medical Center and also provides medical care at the county jail, both expressed condolences to Bellamy’s family in statements this week.

“The death of Mr. Bellamy was a tragedy,” said Hennepin County spokeswoman Carolyn Marinan. “… While this litigation has reached a resolution, we remain committed to serving all people under our care with dignity and respect.”

Hennepin Healthcare holds “steadfast in our commitment to delivering high quality care, creating a safe and healing environment for everyone,” said spokesperson Christine Hill.

Lawsuit says he wasn’t sent back to hospital

Lucas Bellamy was arrested early July 18, 2022, and brought to the Hennepin County jail, where he disclosed he’d ingested a bag of drugs. He was taken to the HCMC emergency department at 5:53 a.m.

“Like millions of Americans, Lucas suffered from drug addiction,” the lawsuit said, which added that he “was much more than his drug addiction.”

Bellamy went back to the jail after he was in the emergency room. Shortly after midnight on July 20, 2022, he became ill and started vomiting. He stopped eating. At 9:40 p.m. that day, a nurse wrote he was complaining of stomach pains. He “was in such severe and obvious pain that” he crawled, the lawsuit said.

Nurses did not send him back to the emergency room as had been noted in his initial hospital visit, or put him on a special watch at the jail for more frequent well-being checks, the lawsuit said.

Early on the morning of July 21, 2022, Bellamy continued to ask for help. A nurse gave him Maalox, which is generally used to treat heartburn.

“Overt abdominal pain is also not a typical symptom of opioid withdrawal,” the lawsuit said, adding that three nurses at the jail didn’t examine his abdomen. Also, infections “often reveal themselves through fever” and providers at the jail didn’t take Bellamy’s temperature, the lawsuit said.

A nurse visited Bellamy’s cell about 8:40 a.m. on July 21, 2022, for standard medication rounds, and he crawled out of his cell in extreme pain. She gave him Maalox, but he “was so weak and unsteady that he spilled much if not most of the dose on the floor,” the lawsuit said.

Bellamy was found face-down in his cell about 12:40 p.m. on July 21, 2022, and he was pronounced dead soon after.

Jail under DOC scrutiny

The Minnesota Department of Corrections, which licenses and inspects local adult detention facilities, recently ordered the Hennepin County Adult Detention Center to reduce its capacity to 600 to correct “deficiencies.” The agency said the jail violated minimum standards for ratio of custody staff to inmates, emergencies and well-being checks.

“Since a biennial inspection on September 7, 2022, seven inmates have died either at Hennepin County ADC or while receiving care at a medical facility after being transported from Hennepin County ADC for treatment,” the DOC wrote in an Oct. 31 order. “… Though the circumstances of each death differ, after each death review, the DOC found that Hennepin County ADC had violated the rule governing well-being checks.”

The sheriff’s office plans to appeal the DOC’s order.

“We were surprised and disappointed to receive this order,” Sheriff Dawanna Witt said in a statement. “We have worked extensively with the DOC for the past several months to address some of the concerns that are raised in this order. Some aspects of this order contradict both Minnesota law and the DOC’s own standards and training materials. We have raised these concerns repeatedly with the DOC and have offered to meet, but they have not responded to these offers.”

The sheriff’s office is continuing “to do everything in our power to increase our staff in the jail,” Witt added.