The state has agreed to pay $800,000 to settle a lawsuit over the death of a pre-trial jail inmate who repeatedly threatened to kill himself, and then managed to hang himself with a rope even after two lawyers involved in his case warned he was suicidal.
Jimuel Gatioan, 49, died on April 4, 2023 after he hanged himself at the Oʻahu Community Correctional Center, where he was being held while awaiting trial in connection with a domestic violence case.
Sean Fitzsimmons, a lawyer who represented Gatioan’s widow Judith in the lawsuit, said jail staff failed to follow OCCC protocols in the case, and allowed a graduate student who was studying to be a psychologist assess Gatioan’s mental state…