BANGOR – The mother of a Bangor man who suffered permanent brain damage after he attempted suicide as an inmate at the Penobscot County Jail has notified county officials that she intends to seek $10 million in damages on her son’s behalf.

As the guardian and conservator of Frederick Olsen III, Linda Richardson of Steuben last week sent a notice of claim to Penobscot County commissioners. State law requires that the notice be sent to governmental entities before a civil lawsuit can be filed.

In the notice of claim dated March 11, Richardson’s attorney, Dale Thistle of Newport, stated the specific monetary damages were not yet known, but that Olsen’s “medical treatment and rehabilitation is ongoing and expected to be lifelong. Total damages resulting from this incident are likely to exceed $10 million.”

Olsen, 27, was found hanging from his cell door Sept. 17, 2003, the second suicide attempt within minutes that day. Another inmate, John Turner, 36, of Bangor tried to strangle himself with a shoelace, but was uninjured after rescue workers treated him.

Olsen, who was being held in the maximum-security ward on charges of robbery, assault and theft after his arrest on Aug. 25, required CPR at the jail. He was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, where he was given a 3 percent chance of survival when he was admitted to intensive care at EMMC, Richardson told the Bangor Daily News in October.

He lingered in a coma for days on life support, and Richardson said she was asked if she wanted to sign a “do not resuscitate order.” She refused.

Prosecutors in the Penobscot County District Attorney’s Office dropped the charges against Olsen six days after he entered the hospital. That meant the county no longer had to pay his mounting medical bills.

Penobscot County Sheriff Glenn Ross said Tuesday that the Department of Corrections did review the incident and determined that the jail had followed proper screening procedures when Olsen was admitted to the jail in August. Ross also said that an in-house review of the incident indicated that the staff did everything possible to ensure the safety and well-being of the inmates.

“In fact, we credit one officer for saving his life,” said the sheriff. “I feel badly for the choices that Mr. Olsen made in his life that resulted in this.”

Richardson said in October that she faulted neither Ross nor jail employees for what happened to her son. She credited corrections officer Douglas Libby and emergency medical technicians from the Bangor Fire Department with saving his life.

She said then that she blamed county commissioners for failing to adequately fund the jail so it had enough personnel to properly manage inmates such as her son.

Olsen survived the suicide attempt, but suffered permanent brain damage, according to Thistle. Now covered by MaineCare, he lives with his mother and receives rehabilitation services in Bangor two to three times a week.

Thistle said the purpose of the lawsuit is to ensure that Olsen, who is not expected to ever be able to live independently, has adequate care for the rest of his life.