At around 3:30 p.m. on June 3, 2020, 19-year-old Lacey Higdem was booked into the Rolette County, North Dakota, jail while under the influence of methamphetamine. She was an otherwise healthy young woman with a six-month-old son. Lacey would be found dead in her cell less than nine hours later, shortly after midnight on June 4, 2020. She had no prior history of meth use and died of meth toxicity. Lacey’s mother, Jessica Allen, sued Rolette County and two of its correctional officers on Lacey’s behalf. The lawsuit was resolved in April 2025 when the United States District Court for the District of North Dakota entered judgment against these defendants, after Jessica accepted their offer of $2,000,000.
Jessica knew Lacey was in jail. She did not know that the Rolette County Jail had a lengthy history of life and safety violations found by the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DOCR). Jessica, like most family members and loved ones, thought her daughter would be safe in jail, considering Lacey had just been cleared by an emergency room physician.
Unbeknownst to Jessica, Oscar Wilkie died at the same jail in 2018 of a meth overdose a mere three hours after he was booked. The DOCR determined that the jail violated inmate observation rules in Wilkie’s death. The DOCR’s 2019 inspection revealed the same problems. After that inspection, the DOCR had “direct conversations” with jail leadership about its culture of doing “just enough to get by.” Yet by late 2019, the DOCR reported that jail staff was still “struggling with dishonesty and attention to matters which need attention.”
Law enforcement found Lacey in a field on the afternoon of June 3, 2020. She was high on meth. Her hair was messy and full of sticks, her clothes and skin were dirty, her legs were scratched, and her speech was fast and “all over the place.” Her hallucinations included seeing “100 babies” in the trees.
Police took Lacey to the hospital, where she was medically cleared for admission to the Rolette County Jail. Lacey was booked for disorderly conduct and running from police. Her hallucinations continued right in front of jail personnel during booking.
In a unique twist, jail audio was uncovered after the correctional officers testified under oath that they did not know whether Lacey was on drugs. The audio established not only that the correctional officers knew Lacey was “crazy high,” but that they laughed it off. Given Lacey’s condition, a 15-minute watch—increased frequency of observations—was required.
Lacey deteriorated over the next nine hours in custody. She rang her cell’s emergency button for help. Other female inmates repeatedly pressed their emergency button to get her help. But the two correctional officers on-duty would not help her. Instead, these two were engaging in an on-the-clock affair. They engaged in intimate contact and watched movies in the control room while Lacey deteriorated on video screens in front of them. Even that didn’t cause Sheriff Gustafson to discipline them. One officer finally entered Lacey’s cell shortly after midnight on June 4, 2020. She was unresponsive. Instead of performing CPR, the officer left her to find someone else to do it. He also called Sheriff Gustafson to report a “bad situation” before calling an ambulance.
Sheriff Gustafson arrived at the jail before state investigators. He immediately instructed his people not to volunteer any information during the investigation. Gustafson specifically told one of the correctional officers to give “short, sweet answers” and be prepared to be treated like “we f*cking strangled this girl.” Despite this, the state of North Dakota immediately shut down the jail because it presented an “ongoing danger.” The two correctional officers made Alford guilty pleas for refusing to perform their official duties.
Even with these facts, Rolette County did not come to accountability easily. It took three years of hard-fought litigation with significant expense before the county realized the magnitude of its problem. Rolette County blamed the hospital, Lacey Higdem, and Jessica Allen for its own failures. It also attempted to diminish the value of Lacey’s life, which was cut short as a young mother. Jessica’s tenacity ultimately brought Rolette County to justice.
“Lacey’s death is not just a local tragedy—it’s a symptom of a nationwide crisis. People should not be left to suffer and die in a cell due to neglect and indifference. If we allow stories like Lacey’s to be ignored, we risk reinforcing a system where human life is treated as disposable. We hope this case serves as a stark reminder that greater accountability and reform of the correctional healthcare system is needed.” - Andrew Noel
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