The Oregon Department of Corrections has agreed to a settlement of $2.3 million in response to a lawsuit concerning the tragic death of an inmate. The family of the deceased claimed that their loved one, Grayson Painter, took his own life in solitary confinement, allegedly after being urged by correctional officers to do so.

According to the family’s legal complaint, officers at the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Marion County reportedly taunted the 22-year-old Painter, telling him, “Why don’t you just kill yourself, motherf—er?” The complaint further states that neighboring inmates overheard officers hurling insults and witnessed Painter in distress, pleading for a book to read while he wept.

Inmates nearby tried to offer Painter comfort, with one even attempting to pass him books. However, Painter reportedly refused, ominously indicating to his fellow inmates that he “won’t be around much longer.”

Painter was incarcerated after being charged with assaulting a public safety officer along with first and second-degree criminal mischief. A press release from the Oregon Department of Corrections, issued after his death on June 29, 2023, noted that Painter’s potential earliest release date was March 26, 2025.

The lawsuit also highlighted that Painter showed signs of “erratic behavior” linked to a “severe persistent mental illness.” However, his behavior was allegedly misinterpreted by prison staff as being drug-induced, leading to his placement in solitary confinement. This misjudgment, according to the family, contributed to the tragic outcome.

“Painter was clearly experiencing a mental health crisis,” the complaint said, noting how Painter was living with “mental illness, including cognitive issues stemming from a traumatic brain injury he sustained in a 2019 motor vehicle accident, a psychotic disorder, ADHD, substance use disorder, and documented history of suicidal ideation and self-harm,” per his family.

“Painter was brought into the [solitary confinement unit] at OSCI to provide a urine sample,” his family alleged. “The urinalysis results came back negative.”

Painter had been placed in a 6-by-9-foot “black box” cell and given “minimal time outside of the cell,” according to the complaint. He began experiencing “delusions, was suspicious of his surroundings, and was yelling,” per the complaint. His in-cell camera had also allegedly stopped functioning.

“Despite Mr. Painter’s recorded medical history, observed self-harm behaviors earlier that day, and the sergeants’ request to place him in a cell that allowed for 24-hour surveillance, there is no indication that ODOC staff tried to engage with Mr. Painter, provide him with any care, check on Mr. Painter, or fix the camera in his cell after it stopped working,” the complaint said.

Hours later, a correctional officer went to Painter’s cell to check on him, according to the complaint. “He observed Mr. Painter hanging by his neck from the cell bars with a bed sheet,” the complaint said, alleging that staff “cut him down” and then “shackled” his ankles “as soon as he was placed on the floor.”

Painter’s family accused officers and ODOC of being “deliberately indifferent” to his mental condition and said they failed him by placing “a patient with severe persistent mental illness” into solitary confinement. They also failed to move to a higher level of care when Painter’s “behavior and health appeared to worsen; failed to initiate suicide watch precautions after demonstrated self-harm; failed to address the camera failure in Mr. Painter’s cell; failed to regularly monitor Mr. Painter while he was in a double-door cell; punished instead of treated a patient undergoing a severe mental health crisis; and encouraged his suicide with their words and actions,” according to the complaint.

“In taking these actions, defendants were deliberately indifferent to Mr. Painter’s serious medical needs and were deliberately indifferent to a serious risk of harm to him, in violation of his right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution,” the complaint concluded.

Painter’s family argued that even if Painter was using illegal substances, which he wasn’t, ODOC staff didn’t have the right to “deliberately choose to deny him life-saving mental health treatment and dismiss Mr. Painter’s mental suffering and anguish.”

Painter’s mother, Jennifer Painter, told local CBS affiliate KOIN that his family’s lives “will never be the same” after what happened to him.

“No settlement or verdict will bring him back, but it’s my sincere hope that this result not only causes ODOC to change their ways but reminds everyone that they have rights and dignity that can and should be vindicated,” she said.

ODOC did not respond to Law&Crime’s requests for comment.