Nurse Accused of Failing to Provide Care to Dying Jail Inmate
Hardel Sherrell at the Beltrami County Jail. via Beltrami County Jail
A former nurse is facing multiple felony charges following the death of an inmate at the Beltrami County Jail.
Hardel Sherrell
Prosecutors allege that Michelle Rose Skroch, 37, failed to provide essential medical care despite evidence the inmate, Hardel Sherrell, was undergoing a life-threatening medical emergency.
According to the criminal complaint, Sherrell was booked into the jail on Aug. 24, 2018. At the time of his intake, he appeared to be in stable condition, speaking and moving normally. But within days, he began experiencing severe medical symptoms including high blood pressure, numbness, paralysis and difficulty swallowing.
Surveillance footage and medical records document his rapid decline, with repeated reports of severe pain, an inability to move and distressing neurological symptoms.
On Aug. 27, 2018, Sherrell complained of chest pain, tingling in his fingers and a burning sensation extending from his collarbone to his neck. His blood pressure was dangerously high, and he reported falling from his bunk earlier that day, requiring assistance from other inmates to stand up. Despite these symptoms, medical staff didn’t transfer him to a hospital, instead prescribing ibuprofen, muscle relaxants and blood pressure medication.
By Aug. 29, Sherrell could no longer feel his legs or arms and struggled to eat, the documents say. Jail staff reported that he was unable to lift his own hands to remove a medical sensor. That same day, he fell from his cot, landing face-down on the floor. Surveillance footage showed he remained there for several hours, unable to get up on his own. His condition worsened over the next two days, and on Aug. 31, a nurse noted that he was slurring his speech, unable to move his lower body and had defecated on himself.
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Sherrell was eventually taken to a hospital in Bemidji, where doctors suspected he was suffering from Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a rare but treatable autoimmune disorder affecting the nervous system. After being transferred to another hospital in Fargo, medical staff there diagnosed him with malingering—suggesting he was faking his symptoms—and returned him to the jail that same night.
After his return to the jail in the early hours of Sept. 1, Sherrell fell from a transport vehicle onto the concrete. Surveillance footage captured correctional officers lifting his limp body into a wheelchair and carrying him into a segregation cell. At one point, his head tilted back uncontrollably and an officer had to push it forward to prevent it from slumping. He remained face-down on the floor for more than five hours, the documents said.
Later that day, Michelle Skroch, the nurse responsible for overseeing his care, arrived for her shift. According to prosecutors, she was fully aware of his medical history, having reviewed his hospital discharge records and received verbal updates from other nurses. However, rather than conducting a full assessment, Skroch allegedly stood in the doorway of Sherrell’s cell, nearly 10 feet away, and did not check his vital signs. When Sherrell pleaded for help, she reportedly dismissed his condition, telling him to “get up and walk” and insisting that nothing was wrong with him.
Despite clear signs of medical distress—including surveillance footage showing Sherrell slumped over and unable to control his body—Skroch did not initiate further care. In her medical notes, she stated that she did not believe his condition warranted an emergency response and advised correctional officers not to assist him with basic needs like eating or using the toilet.
On the morning of Sept. 2, Skroch once again interacted with Sherrell, who by then was covered in urine and feces and unable to bend at the waist. Witnesses reported that she began yelling at him, accusing him of faking his condition. Surveillance footage later captured him lying motionless while jail staff attempted to bathe him and change his clothing.
Later that afternoon, Skroch claimed in her notes that Sherrell appeared “comfortable” and was “sleeping” in his cell. But footage from that time showed him exhibiting rapid, shallow breathing. She did not conduct any further assessments or send him back to the hospital.
By 3:46 p.m., Sherrell was unable to speak. An hour later, jail staff found him unresponsive. Resuscitation efforts failed, and he was pronounced dead at 5:25 p.m. An autopsy later determined that he died from complications of Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a condition that experts say is survivable with appropriate medical intervention.
A correctional health expert reviewing the case concluded that Skroch’s conduct fell far below the standard of care, describing her failure to act as “tantamount to an abandonment of the most basic professional responsibilities of a nurse.” The expert further stated that Sherrell exhibited at least six out of nine symptoms listed in his hospital discharge instructions that required an immediate return to the emergency room, yet Skroch failed to act.
Skroch has been charged with second-degree manslaughter and two counts of felony criminal neglect. If convicted, she faces up to 10 years in prison.
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