Family of slain Tecumseh inmate files lawsuit against state

The family of a Tecumseh inmate who was found unresponsive in his cell in 2017 is suing the state and corrections personnel. 

Terry Berry, 22, was found not breathing in his cell at the Tecumseh State Prison in April of 2017. 

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Johnson County, says that Berry, a non-violent offender, should not have been placed in the cell he was in. 

Berry’s cell, intended to be used as solitary confinement, was shared with inmate Patrick Schroeder. 

Schroeder pleaded guilty to murdering Berry by strangling him. 

Schroeder had already been sentenced in 2006 to life in prison for murder. 

The lawsuit says the Department of Corrections violated its own rules by placing the two men together, housing them in a cell made for one person. 

The lawsuit also says prison staff failed to pay proper attention to warnings from Schroeder that he didn’t want to be in the cell with Berry, and that staff did not properly respond to Schroeder’s attempts to alert them that Berry was not breathing. 

It says Berry was not found until a routine check by staff. 

Berry was taken to a Lincoln hospital where he died shortly after. 

His family is asking for damages for their loss of “comfort, society, companionship, and future earnings of Berry.”