Bertram Hiscock
Bertram Hiscock, 34, graduated as valedictorian of his high school and earned a bachelor's degree in English literature from UC Berkeley, and his brother Vincent, a lecturer at Cornell University, said he was being exceptionally careful about staying well. He was held at the Yuba County Jail in California, where, according to his family and estate, he had bipolar disorder and went more than a month after arriving in November 2016 without psychiatric care or his prescribed medication. He died there on January 29, 2017, by choking, and his family and estate describe his death as a suicide. Their federal civil rights lawsuit says he banged on his cell door for 45 minutes without a guard responding, despite an order for checks every 15 minutes, and the case settled for $1 million in 2018.
Cause of death, as reported: Died by suicide (neglect alleged). His family's federal civil rights lawsuit says he went more than a month without psychiatric care or his prescribed medication and was held in isolation as his condition worsened, and that no guard responded to his cell door banging for 45 minutes despite a 15-minute check order before he choked himself.
Reported by: family and estate, in a federal civil rights lawsuit (family or their lawyers).
Lawsuit: His family sued over his death in a federal civil rights lawsuit and settled for $1 million in 2018.