The mother of a man with severe mental illness is suing the San Diego County Jail after he killed himself in his cell. He’d been in trouble for decades, including one of the most bizarre things that ever happened in San Diego. Matthew Settles was arrested in 1996 for jumping into a bear enclosure at the San Diego Zoo and getting mauled. The wrongful death lawsuit claims, the county ignored Settles' mental health and could have prevented his death. "It’s just unreal, that they could do that to a mentally ill person. I hope no one ever has to go through that,” said Brenda Settles. Matthew Settles’ mother says when he was mauled by the bear it was early on in his diagnoses of schizoaffective disorder. “Matthew was such a wonderful person. He just was a joy to be around when he was stable. It’s an absolute horrible illness that he got,” said Settles. She said her son attended UCLA to study computer science. His erratic behavior often happened when he was off his medication. He attempted suicide by jumping off a three-story building, he escaped a mental hospital and nearly starved to death and jumped in front of a San Diego trolley. “When he got worse, of course, his behavior got worse. And he got more afraid. And it was a bad cycle,” said Settles. His mother says during the years Settles was unstable, he was bounced around from psychiatric hospitals and jail. “They would release them too early when he wasn’t really stable,” said Settles. Settles says her son had a conservator to help him make decisions such as taking medications. After his last arrest in February 2022, for allegedly punching a security guard at a psychiatric hospital, Settles says the jail shut out the family and the conservator. MORE: https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/family-of-inmate-who-hanged-himself-in-isolation-sues-san-diego-sheriffs-office/509-7c7bec5d-d939-41db-830d-f98111a55983