Thursday, August 28, 2008
Jury awards fat verdict against Dallas County over jail health failures
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For the second time in 18 months, a jury has awarded a plaintiff nearly $1 million because of inadequate healthcare provided by the Dallas County Jail. Reports the Dallas Morning News ("Jury orders Dallas County to pay $900,000 over lack of medical care for fomer inmate," Aug. 27):
A federal court jury ordered Dallas County on Tuesday to pay $900,000 to a former Dallas County jail inmate for denying him proper medical care while he was in custody.
The jury found that Stanley Shepherd's constitutional rights were violated when he was denied basic medical care while in the Lew Sterrett Justice Center on burglary and drug charges in late 2003.
Jurors in the weeklong trial issued their verdict Tuesday morning after deliberating since about 1 p.m. Monday, said Don Tittle, the attorney for Mr. Shepherd. If lawyers' fees and interest are granted, the county could have to pay more than $1 million, he said.
Commissioner John Wiley Price, who has spearheaded recent jail improvements and who voted against contracting out jail health in 2002, said he disagreed with the verdict.
"We will appeal the case. We are going to be vindicated on appeal," he said.
Tuesday's verdict is significant for two reasons, Mr. Tittle said. First, it's the largest jury verdict over a jail-neglect suit against Dallas County. And second, the verdict is an indictment of the county's entire jail-health system instead of one or several isolated cases, he said. In legal terms, that means the jail's "general conditions of confinement" led to the damage suffered.
"It's a finding that they failed to meet the basic essential needs of an inmate" because of systemic problems, Mr. Tittle said.
Mr. Shepherd, 51, who testified during the trial, entered the jail in October 2003 on a burglary and drug charge and suffered the stroke in January 2004. In the seven weeks before his stroke, he received little or no treatment or medication despite high blood- pressure readings, Mr. Tittle said. Mr. Shepherd told the jail staff about his blood pressure medication upon being booked into the jail, the suit said.
He was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital almost an hour after he was found on the floor of his cell, according to the lawsuit.
The charges against Mr. Shepherd were later dismissed.
Mr. Shepherd, who filed his federal lawsuit in 2005, uses a wheelchair and is paralyzed on his left side, Mr. Tittle said. He can only eat soft foods; his speech, hearing and sight are impaired; he is impotent and suffers from depression; and his wife must help him with everyday activities, the suit said.
With what we know about health care at the Dallas jail, I'd bet dollars to donuts Price is wrong the county will be "vindicated" on appeal. A report (pdf) from the feds issued this spring found some improvements, but overall said many of the same problems described in Mr. Shepherd's suit are still happening.
Indeed, given the details of the plaintiff's case and the clear culpability of the county, Mr. Price and the Commissioners Court might be better served spending money to improve jail health care instead of on appellate lawyers. When he makes comments like that it leads me to believe he's not serious about acknowledging or fixing the jail's problems.
To be honest, $1 million sounds like an awfully cheap payout considering what happened to this fellow and the permanent disabilities that resulted. How hard would it have been just to give him his high-blood pressure medicine, which was in the Sheriff's possession?
Plus, it's not like this is the first time this happened. As mentioned, last year Dallas County was ordered to pay damages for failing to provide adequate health care to three other plaintiffs; again from the Dallas News:
Tuesday's verdict – if intact after the county's appeal – will be the second six-figure payout in two years related to the jail's well-publicized problems in providing health care to its jail population.
In February 2007, commissioners agreed to pay $950,000 to the families of three mentally ill former inmates, one of whom died, to settle their civil rights lawsuit over jail medical care.
James Monroe Mims didn't get his medication for two months and nearly died after water to his cell was shut off for two weeks. Clarence Lee Grant Jr. died in his jail cell in 2003 after he did not receive any medicine for five days. And Kennedy Nickerson was found lying sick in the street after being released from the jail without medication or notice to his family.
Several scathing reports have criticized medical care in the Dallas County jail system, and the jails haven't met state standards since 2003.
The only reasons jail health won't be more of an issue in the hotly contested Dallas Sheriff's election are that it's unclear what if anything the GOP candidate might do differently, plus so much blame goes to the county commissioners court for failing to adequately fund jail health over the long haul.
Dallas County is presently in the midst of a self-manufactured budget crisis. The Commissioners Court has declared it won't raise taxes, then used the resulting projected shortfall to justify draconian cuts, mostly affecting services provided to the poorest among us. So unfortunately, in that context, major civil verdicts against the county may be the only way to get the Commissioners Court's attention and focus more resources on jail health on the front end.
UPDATE: Robert Guest adds that this is why Dallas should not be "using their jail to incarcerate those with outstanding traffic fines," noting that "To fill the coffers, Dallas launched the ill-conceived "Operation Pay or Stay" program. The result is that one of the most dangerous jails in Texas, is now being used a debtor's prison." "Tarrant County has already had a traffic ticket arrest turn into a death sentence, wrote Guest. "It is only a matter of time before Dallas experiences a similar tragedy."
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Comments
Seanchai520 Anonymous
A quick solution would be to stay out of jail. Then, you wouldn’t have t worry about other people attending to YOUR health issues. Did we have to pay his medical bill for his decrepit health? Obviously he didn’t just get to be in poor health as soon as he set foot in the jail. He obviously didn’t take care of himself prior to being jailed for being a useless criminal. Now that he has been awarded $900,000 maybe he can pay his bill to Dallas County for his incarceration fees.
2 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Pavel Lishin Verified
While I agree that people should stay out of jail, you are aware that sometimes people spend time in jail and are later found not guilty of a crime? "Hurr criminals deserve whatever they get" is a wonderful position to hold in your magical country where only the guilty spend time in a cell.
And while "obviously didn't take care of himself" might apply to specific cases, some people do have medical maladies over which they really have no control - genetic problems and the like. Are you suggesting that it's their fault for not inventing a time machine and convincing their parents to mate with someone with better sets of genes?
2 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Jason Rice Verified
Criminal or not, "ward of the state" is a status that carries responsibility on the part of the state. It's not the Bastille, right?
Pavel - don't bait Seanchai520. We already know he's bucking for "Eloi" status on the selective reproduction board. ;o)
2 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Seanchai520 Anonymous
Although I will agree that some people that have been wrongfully incarcerated, I do not believe that that is the case for the vast majority of fine upstanding citizens that reside in our prisons and jails currently. I just don’t have much sympathy for convicts in general. Life is full of choices, and they chose to be degenerates. When I see what has happen to Dallas, Ft. Worth, and other great communities around the country as a result of folks that tend to populate our prisons and jails, it is hard for me to not wish that they all had a stroke while they were away. At least we, the tax payer, would save some money that goes into our criminal justice system, and invest it where it really counts – education, health care needs for the impoverished, job training, agencies that work with folks with chronic mental illness that were thrown out on the streets by the fine reagan social reform policies, etc. Instead, we REWARD a degenerate burglar with a $1 million award for having crappy health. With or without a time machine, their parents should be ashamed of what they produced, especially with the knowledge that their best DNA landed in the sheets or on the floor.
2 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Scott Doyle Verified
Seanchai520, please read.
2 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Pavel Lishin Verified
Seanchai520: I'm seriously having a hard time coping with what I think you're saying. You don't care if innocent people suffer and die in jail, just because they only represent a minority of the jail-house population?
2 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Seanchai520 Anonymous
Oh no, that is not what I'm saying. I want the truly innocent released from our jails immediately! I want those individuals to be compensated for having their lives ruined, and the loss of time that they missed out on enjoying freedom and fresh air. Those individuals DESERVE a $1 million award at a minimum (but rarely get even a quarter of that). I want our criminal justice system to be revamped in order to stop these truly criminal acts from happening in the fist place. The people I could care less about are the career criminals. Those people are of no use to us as a society.
2 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Pavel Lishin Verified
So once again, you want to live in a fantasy world.
It's cool, I do too - but for now, we live in our horrible crap world, and in this world, everyone in jail should receive medical care.
I'm not saying that we should be granting everyone a million dollar prize for being a criminal - I'm saying that nobody should die in jail of easily preventable medical maladies, and I'm betting after paying out that big fine, maybe the jail physician's supplies will include more than old popsicle sticks and aspirin.
2 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Seanchai520 Anonymous
Too true about the minimal and antiquated supplies!! However, why should prisoners receive free medical care when that is not offered to our astronomical populace of working poor? Usually, the working poor earn just above the financial cutoff to qualify for any form of social welfare programs (food stamps, healthcare, etc.). These folks bust their humps just to get by, and we turn our backs on them. The working poor actually contribute to our society, but few seem to care that they are screwed on a daily basis. I want the working poor to be offered the medical care and education benefits that are wasted on degenerate career criminals in jail.
2 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Pavel Lishin Verified
"However, why should prisoners receive free medical care when that is not offered to our astronomical populace of working poor?"
Jason Rice has already fielded this one. And not to be a Maude Flanders about it, won't somebody think of the innocents? If I'm in jail because I'm suspected of a crime I didn't commit, I want to keep receiving whatever medication I need to stay alive.
Do you think prisoners - innocent or otherwise - get to keep their credit card in their cell, and get to run to WalGreens once a day to fill their prescriptions?
2 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
DC Anonymous
Preventable event. Nothing in this case states free medical care nor neglect on the accused part. He was taking his medications, remember? Didn't get them.
2 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Gritsforbreakfast Anonymous
Seanchi520, given your foolish blather about "career criminals" who didn't take care of themselves, you need to read more carefully.
Charges against this fellow were dismissed. You have no evidence he is a career criminal. Also, he had high blood pressure. The jail had his meds and didn't give them to him for weeks. He finally had a stroke and the docs said it was because his meds were withheld. He WAS taking care of himself on the outside - the jail just wouldn't give him his medicine. That's simply not his fault.
In response to your question, "why should prisoners receive free medical care when that is not offered to our astronomical populace of working poor?" The answer is, because the government chose to incarcerate them. SCOTUS has long held that IF the state incarcerates someone they're responsible for their healthcare. Incarcerate fewer people, then those costs will decline (and there will be fewer neglectful incidents like this one). However the US has 5% of the planet's population and 25% of its prisoners. When our society makes such choices, they must also pay the costs that go with it.
2 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Clay213 Anonymous
How about that guy who got picked up for a minor warrant(traffic I believe) and ended up losing his leg because of an infection?
Was that commensurate to the crime?
Apparently, this guy has been drinking too much Irish Coffee and doesn't know that people in jail generally haven't been CONVICTED of anything yet. But what does that matter right?
2 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Seanchai520 Anonymous
An individual CAN be serving out there sentence in a jail, as opposed to other correctional facilities, due to being CONVICTED of a crime. A court has the authority to sentence an offender to a state correctional facility, a regional correctional facility, county jail, or State Farm, if the offender is convicted of a felony or a Class A misdemeanor. It is a common procedure to have an offender serve out their sentence in a county jail when they are on a work release program. However, you are correct in that I did not read far enough into this story. I based my assumptions on the initial story as posted on here, and became irritated as a result of my assumption that another criminal hit the tax payer lottery.
You are correct. I did not know that charges against this fellow were dismissed because I did not read up on the story, and you’re also correct that I do not have evidence he is a career criminal. However, I think that my assumption that a civilized human being does not wake up one day and decide they will become a burglar is a fair assumption. That is something a burglar has practiced prior to getting caught. Therefore, my assumption that he was a career criminal is a fair one prior to you relaying the information that the charges had been dismissed.
As for the new BS plan of establishing a “debtors jail” is RIDICULOUS!! That is a total waste of time, money, resources, manpower, etc. I do not support that in any way, shape, or form. That hinders the ability on an individual to pay those tickets and other fines effectively.
People losing their life or limb over a traffic ticket in inexcusable. Hell, I wouldn’t even classify a traffic violation as being a “criminal” offense when equated with a burglary charge, or real crimes against people and property. “Debtors jail” is an antiquated concept that has never worked, and never will. The concept of the debtors jail is up their with Tent City jail in Arizona in my opinion. Although, I think if I had to stay out in 125 degree temperatures, eating green bologna in pink chonies, I may think twice about committing another crime.
I can concede that the State does have an obligation to care for prisoners to a degree. They DO have an obligation to provide preventative care, especially in regards to the provision of prescribed medications. It was stated that this “obligation” to provide care to prisoners is “because the government chose to incarcerate them.” Did the State “choose” to incarcerate them, or did the individual’s action leave the State no alternative? Simply put, I believe that the State has a prior obligation to those that do not commit crimes and who actually contribute to our society as a whole. Prisoners are leaches on society, and the ROI is nonexistent. However, if the State would actually own up to their prior obligation to the working poor, the ROI WOULD be significant. I also believe that if the State met their obligation to the working poor, there would be far more people setting positive examples and making positive social contributions, thus reducing the prison population over time.
I prefer MICHAEL COLLINS Single Malt whiskey in my Irish Coffee. Thanks.
2 months, 3 weeks ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
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