Schizophrenic inmate Ryan Partridge, who tore his eyeballs out after suffering untreated delusions in solitary confinement, wins $2.5 million in a civil lawsuit against the Colorado prison
- Ryan Partridge, 37, remained permanently blind during his psychotic self-harm but has now won his battle against Colorado’s Boulder County Jail
- Footage from inside the prison showed staff members using violence against Partridge, who was naked when he was an inmate and going through a mental health crisis
A schizophrenic inmate who ripped his eyeballs out after suffering untreated delusions in solitary confinement has won two settlements totaling $2.5 million.
Ryan Partridge, 37, who was in jail for a minor assault on another homeless person, was left permanently blind during his psychotic self-harm. But now he has won his lawsuit against the Boulder County Jail in Colorado.
The hefty monetary compensation was for two reasons: willful “indifference to his grave psychiatric needs” and the prison staff’s excessive use of force.
Footage from inside the prison showed staff members using violence against Partridge, who was naked when he was an inmate and going through a mental health crisis.
Ryan Partridge, 37, who was in jail for a minor assault on another homeless person, was left permanently blind during his psychotic self-harm. But now he has won his lawsuit against the Boulder County Jail in Colorado
While suffering from psychosis, Partridge also attempted suicide by climbing and jumping to the top railing of a second-floor prison floor.
He fell headfirst to the ground, hitting his head on a metal table and the concrete floor, Law and Crime reports.
This resulted in Partridge fracturing his vertebrae. The ordeal happened six weeks before he examined his eyeballs.
A month later, he tried the same jumping stunt again – but the guards talked him down.
While in prison in 2016, Partridge also attempted to harm himself, including banging his head against the toilet – leaving him covered in blood and with seven broken teeth.
Partridge’s attorney said officers ignored a judge’s emergency order to get him psychiatric treatment. The inmate, deep in crisis, believed the CIA ordered his eyes to be ripped out.
Footage from inside the prison showed staff members using violence against Partridge, who was naked when he was an inmate and going through a mental health crisis. Part of the compensation concerned the excessive use of force by staff against him
The sheriff’s office said they don’t believe their employees are to blame, but “hope the settlement will bring about a settlement for Mr. Partridge.”
In 2017, Partridge told CBS, “I don’t like loners.” I don’t think that would have happened if I hadn’t been in solitary confinement. I remember they asked if I wanted medication. I didn’t know what for and I didn’t trust anyone.’
Following the successful settlement, Partridge’s attorney, David Lane, said in a statement, “He refused his medication and was in a psychotic state.” Ryan Partridge ripped his own eyeballs off his head.
“It is hoped that this settlement sends a message to the Boulder Sheriff and law enforcement agencies everywhere that ignoring the inmates’ serious psychiatric needs will cost them millions of dollars.”
The lawsuit states: “Mr. Partridge was in and out of Boulder County Jail throughout 2016, each time displaying unmistakable signs of serious mental illness and being regularly taken out of jail to be admitted to the state mental hospital or a affiliated clinic.” Treatment center in attempts to reinstate him to face the minor criminal charges pending against him.
“The prison was well aware that Mr Partridge suffered from schizophrenia.
“If any of the defendants had instituted appropriate medical intervention on Mr. Partridge’s behalf, he would not have gone blind today, broken seven teeth, or jumped from the second floor and slammed his head onto the building’s metal table and cement floor prison and broke his back.’
The sheriff’s office said they don’t believe their employees are to blame, but “hope the settlement will provide a resolution for Mr. Partridge.”