Floyd County officials reach tentative settlement in jail death

A sheriff’s department in southern Indiana has reached a tentative settlement with the father of a woman who died in detention.

An order was issued June 22 to file documents and authorize dismissal within 60 days of a civil case Mark Robb filed against Floyd County Sheriff Frank Loop, the sheriff’s department and eight other employees, the News and Tribune of Jeffersonville reported. Robb is the father of Hanna Robb, who died in the jail March 20, 2016.

The order was based on U.S. District of Indiana Magistrate Judge Debra McVicker Lynch being advised of the settlement.

The settlement isn’t final and the terms would be confidential, Mark Robb’s attorney, Brandon Smith, said last week. An attorney for Loop and the department declined to comment.

Hanna Robb, 23, was found unresponsive in the jail and had died the previous night, according to a Floyd County coroner’s report. An autopsy said the cause of death was natural, from complications from a seizure disorder.

The lawsuit filed last year alleges Robb died due to not being treated for the Suboxone withdrawals she experienced after an arrest for probation violation five days earlier. Suboxone is a medication used to relieve symptoms of withdrawal from opiates.

“No defendants … provided any medical assistance or aid to Hanna Robb for heroin withdrawal, despite her obvious symptoms and need for medical treatment and monitoring,” the lawsuit stated.

A March 2017 response by the defense to the lawsuit denied that Robb was experiencing withdrawal and detoxification and denied that she was “allowed to die.”

The lawsuit requests unspecified monetary damages against the defendants for violating Hanna Robb's Eighth and 14th Amendment rights, and damages for wrongful death.