Oregon Public Broadcasting

Two families of deceased prison inmates sued the state Thursday for a total of $3.2 million.

George Miller and Nathan Bashaw both commited suicide while in prison last year, and both had histories of mental illness. Ethan Lindsey reports.

Both inmates were young when they hanged themselves in their cells.

Bashaw was 21. The state imprisoned him at the Snake River institute in Ontario.

Miller died at age 18 in Two Rivers prison in Umatilla.

Their families filed suit Thursday in a Marion County court. The separate lawsuits seek $1.6 million each.

Department of Corrections spokesman Matt Conens read a prepared statement.

Matt Conens: “When someone in our custody dies we immediately contact the Oregon State Police and work cooperatively with them in their investigation. Unfortunately, because of pending litigaiton, we cannot comment on the specifics of those two cases."

The suits allege the prisons failed to properly diagnose and care for the men's mental illnesses.

A Salem Statesman-Journal investigation found Oregon's prison suicide rate is twice the national average.