Family of man who died in Bemidji jail got some justice and wants more

Del Shea Perry knew the news conference in front of the Minnesota Attorney General’s office Tuesday would be more bitter than sweet.

Perry wore a hoodie adorned with mourning doves and an image of her son, Hardel Sherrell, who died in 2018 at age 27 while in custody at Beltrami County jail in Bemidji. Last week, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed manslaughter and neglect charges against a former nurse accused of depriving Sherrell of care, resulting in his death nine days after he was jailed. Tears streamed down her cheeks as Perry recounted her only child’s zest for life and love for his three daughters.

Perry has devoted much of her life since her son’s death to advocating for the health and safety of incarcerated people. The Legislature passed the Hardel Sherrell Act in 2021, setting new standards for those in jail or prison related to mental health, suicide prevention and other health practices. Perry was awarded $2.6 million in 2023 after filing a wrongful-death lawsuit.

But in the halls of the Minnesota Capitol on Tuesday, Ellison’s recent charges announcement didn’t feel like cause for celebration. Sure, Michelle Skroch, nursing director at the since-shuttered MEnD Correctional Care, which provided health care for Minnesota prisoners, was charged with crimes related to his death. But that didn’t bring Perry’s son back.

“My prayer is that she won’t be the only one charged. Because everyone that was there, anybody that had a part and saw what was going on, they stood by and did absolutely nothing when he begged for his life,” Perry said through tears. “I just thank God that finally we are starting to see some justice in this case. ”

Perry and her attorney said Sherrell’s complaints of numbness and pain in his chest and lower limbs were repeatedly dismissed and that he was accused by jail staff of faking some symptoms. They said Sherrell died of Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare disorder that causes the immune system to attack nerves, resulting in weakness that turns into complete paralysis.

Instead of framing it as a final victory after nearly seven years of seeking justice, Perry said it was part of a larger fight for rights of incarcerated people in Minnesota.

Forty people died in Minnesota jails between 2017 and 2023, according to a recent report by the Minnesota Justice Research Center. That number spiked in 2023, when 20 people died while in custody of Minnesota jails, according to state data.

“Our goal has been to get accountability for what happens behind jail doors,” said Perry’s attorney, Zorislav Leyderman. “Most importantly, our goal is that this doesn’t happen to anybody again. We don’t want any more children left without parents. We don’t want any more grieving mothers.”

Activists and family members encouraged legislators to pass more reforms, including a bill, named after a man who died in custody at Hennepin County jail in 2023, that aims to improve medical care in correctional facilities. They displayed a rendering of a man in custody, pleading for his medication.

“This is not an isolated incident. This is happening every single day in our county jails‚” said Danielle Matthias, a senior organizer at the Minnesota Freedom Fund, a nonprofit that pays bail for people awaiting trial. “The more we expose these injustices, the harder it is for them to be ignored. We refuse to wait for another preventable jail death to happen.”