Kellsie Green
Kellsie Green, 24, was described by her family as sweet, funny, generous and kind-hearted, and her mother called her her best friend. She worked as a trained massage therapist, and her father says she hoped to write a book about her struggle with addiction to deter young people from using drugs. She died on January 10, 2016, six days after entering an Anchorage jail while withdrawing from heroin, from malnutrition, dehydration, renal failure and a heart dysrhythmia, according to her death certificate. Her father says cellmates reported that requests for help went largely ignored as her condition worsened and that she was not started on medically supervised detox promptly, while the Alaska Correctional Officers Association says officers sought medical help and medical staff judged her not to be dying. A $400,000 wrongful-death settlement with the Alaska Department of Corrections was approved in April 2019.
Cause of death, as reported: Died from neglect by staff (disputed). Her father's wrongful-death lawsuit says staff did not give her adequate medical care or respond to calls for help as she withdrew from heroin, and the death certificate lists malnutrition and dehydration; the Alaska Correctional Officers Association disputes that requests for help were ignored, saying officers sought medical help.
Reported by: death certificate; John Green, her father, and his wrongful-death lawsuit (family or their lawyers); Alaska Department of Corrections (the agency that held her); Alaska Correctional Officers Association.
Lawsuit: Her father, John Green, sued the Alaska Department of Corrections over her death, and the state settled the suit for $400,000 in 2019.