Otter Tail, Becker and Wadena Counties Appeal to Regain Jail Medication Control

Otter Tail County joined Becker and Wadena counties in a multi-party appeal asking the Minnesota Court of Appeals to block the Larry R. Hill Medical Reform Act, Detroit Lakes Online reported. The statute, passed with strong bipartisan support in July 2025, requires county jails to fill all current medical prescriptions for inmates, and plaintiffs say that mandate puts jails and staff in an impossible legal bind.

Plaintiffs named in Detroit Lakes Online reporting include Becker, Clay, Otter Tail, Wadena and Todd counties; the Minnesota Sheriffs Association; five county sheriffs including one identified only as Glander; private jail-healthcare firms Advanced Correctional Healthcare, Inc., USA Medical & Psychological Staffing, Inc., and Freedom Behavioral Health, Inc.; and four individual clinicians described as two doctors and two nurse practitioners. The filing before the Court of Appeals includes a 17-page motion in which plaintiffs argued, “The district court abused its discretion when it determined that the appeal did not raise unique legal issues, and that the public interest considerations weighed against the issuance of a stay,” adding that the district court’s findings were “against logic and the facts in the record.”

Plaintiffs tell the appellate court the Hill Act forces jails into a choice with no safe outcome: failure to fill prescriptions could trigger punitive action by the Minnesota Department of Corrections, while filling all prescriptions could expose jail staff to civil or criminal liability if medication combinations harm or kill an inmate. Detroit Lakes Online quoted plaintiffs as warning that medical providers “have already backed away from serving jails,” and that state enforcement “could seriously impact the ability of jails to operate.”

The medication-control appeal arrives amid separate litigation over conditions at the Otter Tail County Jail. The ACLU of Minnesota sued on behalf of Ramsey Kettle after a Department of Corrections investigation found Kettle was deprived of food and water while held in the jail in February 2024. Kettle’s complaint alleged he was denied water for 52 hours and food for 60 hours, confined in unsanitary solitary conditions, and that jail staff recorded more than 100 welfare checks that all reported him as “ok.” The county ultimately reached a settlement under which Otter Tail County agreed to pay Kettle $200,000 and to adopt policy changes.

As part of that settlement, the jail agreed to require officers to report when another officer withholds food or water as discipline, to conduct “meaningful” welfare checks that look for signs of mental distress, biohazard risks and access to water, and to stop “rolling over” disciplinary segregation time from one confinement to the next. The Department of Corrections temporarily downgraded the jail’s certification to hold detainees for more than 72 hours, then restored the license in April after Otter Tail submitted a corrective plan and employees received additional training; Sheriff Barry Fitzgibbons issued a public apology during the process.

ACLU-MN Staff Attorney Catherine Ahlin-Halverson characterized the Kettle episode as systemic, saying, “This was a total failure for which Otter Tail County and its officers must be held accountable. No one — no matter what brings them to be housed in a county jail or other carceral facility — deserves to be deprived of the most basic of our human needs.” U.S. District Court Judge Katherine Menendez earlier rejected Otter Tail County’s motion to dismiss the civil-rights suit, a ruling that helped pave the way for the settlement.

The Court of Appeals will now weigh the counties’ arguments over the Hill Act; plaintiffs’ filings are on the appellate docket and are available to the public for review. Local outlets have reported differing lists of plaintiff counties, with Perham Focus naming Otter Tail, Becker and Wadena and Detroit Lakes Online listing additional counties, so the exact roster could be confirmed through the appellate filings. The appeal’s outcome could reshape how county jails statewide manage inmate prescriptions and how private and public providers continue to contract with local corrections systems.