Northern California officials settle suit 5 years after woman took her own life in jail cell

Colusa County paid $850,000 to the family of a mentally ill woman who committed suicide while awaiting trial in its jail facility, federal court records show.

In a settlement reached in August and paid out earlier this month, the Northern California county did not admit wrongdoing in the case. But her family’s attorney, Mark Merin, said Neil’s death — along with the cost to the county — were the latest examples of the criminal justice system’s lack of policies and resources to deal with offenders who have mental health problems.

“We’ve been aware of the problems in health care delivery and mental and medical care for years and have done virtually nothing as people continue to die,” Merin said.

Haile Neil was off her medication for bipolar disorder and borderline schizophrenia and was under the influence of other drugs when she was pulled over for speeding by a CHP officer on Interstate 5 near the city of Williams in February 2019. The encounter happened just days before her 26th birthday, documents and her family’s attorney said. She fled, and when the officer caught up with her, she stabbed him in the shoulder with a pocketknife and was arrested.

Unable to make bail, she was held for two months until she hanged herself in her cell on April 15, 2019. Her family sued in federal court in Sacramento, saying that Neil had repeatedly indicated that she was in a mental health crisis and showed signs of being suicidal. While she was for a time put on suicide watch, that care was later removed.

Court documents also said that during the traffic stop, Neil had mistakenly believed she was being kidnapped.

Colusa County Counsel Richard Stout said officials had “a great deal of sympathy and prayers for the family and what they have gone through ... to lose somebody so young and with so much potential.”

Still, he said the Colusa County Sheriff’s Department, which runs the jail, “did everything that was in their power to provide her with the appropriate services that she needed.”

In its court filings in the case, the county disputed Neil’s diagnoses of mental illness, saying she had told them that she had not been diagnosed with either borderline schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

The county also said Neil had received “reasonable and appropriate medical services and treatment at the jail before she committed suicide.”