An attorney for the estate of an inmate who committed suicide 16 months ago while incarcerated in the State Correctional Institution at Houtzdale has filed an amended complaint in which he charges that prison officials had ample warning his client was in distress.

The inmate, Lance Heverly, 39, was near the end of a 10-year term behind bars for aggravated assault in Lancaster County.

“In the weeks and days preceding his death, Lance exhibited numerous chronic and acute suicide risk factors, including escalating psychological distress, anger, hopelessness, trauma-related symptoms and the destabilizing effects of prolonged isolation in the Restricted Housing Unit,” according to the complaint filed by Philadelphia attorney Dylan Hastings.

Hastings is representing the Heverly estate and his mother, Diane L. Kauffman of Coatesville, the administrator of the estate.

Hastings last October filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Johns­town, but last week filed a more detailed complaint that names as defendants Houtzdale Superintendent David Close, the medical department at the institution, a licensed psychologist, a licensed professional counselor, a psychological services specialists and seven corrections officers, as well as others to be named.

The complaint stated that the inmate was found deceased in his cell on the afternoon of Nov. 21, 2024.

During the morning hours, he had a hearing to determine if he was eligible to regain entry into the general prison population, but was told that he would not be eligible for at least another 90 days.

He was returned to his cell at 11:20 a.m., but the lunch he was served was not in conformity with his dietary restrictions.

The lawsuit stated this was done “to demean and provoke him when he was the most vulnerable, which caused Lance to become irate and angry.”

He screamed he was “hanging it up,” which was a “well-recognized colloquialism” for suicide by hanging among corrections defendants, according to the lawsuit.

He then covered his cell window with cardboard, according to the new complaint.

Other inmates in the RHU began pressing emergency buttons and “screaming for corrections defendants to check on Heverly,” the complaint stated.

It took about an hour for an officer to perform a check, at which point Heverly was found deceased in his cell.

“Lance’s death was preventable but inevitable because of the deliberate indifference of defendants,” according to the complaint.

In returning Heverly’s possessions to his mother, the state included the ligature he used to hang himself, “one last opportunity to humiliate Lance and intentionally cause his mother untold emotional distress,” the lawsuit stated.

Hastings, in the new filing, pointed out the inmate in the weeks prior to his death sought mental health counseling.

He was depressed and anxious and told a counselor, “I want my life to be better, but I don’t have the tools to deal… Yes, I have all-or-nothing thinking.”

The lawsuit is asking money damages on civil charges of Deliberate Indifference by officials under the Civil Rights Act of 1983, Denial of Medical Care under the Act, Supervisory Liability by the Superintendent and Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress.

The case will be reviewed by Magistrate Judge Kezia O.L. Taylor, who presides in Pittsburgh.

She has issued an order instructing state authorities to respond to the complaint by Feb. 12.