Massachusetts: Wrongful Death Claims Survive Summary Judgment in Prisoner Suicide Case
by Mark Wilson
n September 15, 2014, a Massachusetts superior court denied summary judgment to jail officials on a wrongful death claim related to a prisoner’s suicide, though the court dismissed deliberate indifference claims against three defendants.
Eric Adams was taken into custody by the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) on December 5, 2008. During intake at the Worcester County House of Corrections (WCHC), a jail employee conducted a suicide screening that identified only a “psychiatric history (psychotropic medication or treatment)” as a suicide risk factor. A psychiatric screening conducted at the same time revealed “that Adams had a history of psychotropic medication, outpatient mental health treatment, violent behavior, and substance abuse/treatment.”
WCHC contracts with Advocates, Inc., a private entity, to provide prisoner mental health services. Advocates employee Brian McNeil reviewed Adams’ mental health screening and concluded that no further evaluation was necessary.
As a result, Adams was assigned to the general population and not placed on suicide watch. WCHC physician Thomas Patnaude later learned of Adams’ prior methadone history and placed him on methadone detoxification, including Tranxene and Donnatal three times a day. However, on December 6 and ...
Women, Incarcerated
by Sharona Coutts and Zoe Greenberg, RH Reality Check
Investigative Series Shows Systemic Abuses of Women in Prisons and Jails
Keeley Schenwar learned she was pregnant the same day she was arrested. That spring of 2013, she didn’t pee on a stick and study the results in the bathroom; there was no moment of elation. Instead, a nurse at the Cook County Jail in Chicago led Schenwar to a separate part of the facility, away from the other women. When Schenwar asked why, the nurse broke the news.
Schenwar, who was just 23 at the time, with warm brown eyes and glossy black hair, barely knew what to say. She had been struggling with a heroin addiction for more than five years. For the second time, she’d been caught stealing from a Walgreens – medicines, makeup, razors – anything she could sell to local corner stores to scramble together the $400 or $500 she needed to pay for her addiction.
She’d been in and out of county jails for years, but this time she was headed to state prison, and she was pregnant.
“I cried,” she told RH Reality Check. “I didn’t want to tell anyone I was in jail. ...
Loaded on
June 3, 2015
published in Prison Legal News
June, 2015, page 56
Over 100 Protestors Converge at GEO Group’s Shareholder Meeting
On April 29, 2015, over 100 people joined a protest outside the GEO Group’s annual shareholder meeting at the Boca Resort and Club in Boca Raton, Florida. GEO, a private prison firm that trades on the New York Stock Exchange, bills itself as the “largest provider of correctional services in the world.”
Groups participating in the protest included PLN’s parent organization, the Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC), as well as members from Grassroots Leadership, the Florida Immigrant Coalition, Enlace International, SEIU-Florida, the Palm Beach Environmental Coalition and Dream Defenders groups on campuses across Florida.
PLN managing editor Alex Friedmann, an activist shareholder who owns a small number of shares of GEO Group stock, attended the meeting. When he asked about recent reports of hunger strikes by immigrant women held at the GEO Group-operated Karnes County Family Detention Center in Texas, he was informed by a GEO executive that there was no hunger strike; rather, it was a “boycott of dining facilities” at the detention facility.
GEO Group founder and CEO George C. Zoley further remarked that the women detained at Karnes awaiting asylum hearings “have a higher standard of living” than ...
Former Nurse at Maine State Prison Files Suit Over Racial Slurs
by Joe Watson
For the second time in as many years, allegations of racism have been leveled against employees at the Maine State Prison. In the most recent incident, a former nurse at the facility filed suit in federal court, alleging that she was the target of repeated racial taunts and was fired after she complained.
The suit was filed on October 14, 2014 by attorney David Webbert on behalf of Shana E. Cannell, who worked as a licensed practical nurse at the prison from February through October 2010. The lawsuit names Corizon LLC in addition to the company’s director of nursing, Brian Castonguay, and administrator Tammy Hatch and fellow nurse Larry Brayhall. See: Cannell v. Corizon, U.S.D.C. (D. Maine), Case No. 1:14-cv-00405-NT.
Cannell, who is black, claims that some prison staffers also made derogatory comments directed at her, though Webbert said the state is not named in the litigation.
“Defendants orchestrated and condoned a continuing campaign of harassment against Cannell because of her race and in retaliation for her opposition to the unlawful race discrimination and harassment in the workplace,” the suit alleges.
In court filings, Cannell ...
Grand Jury Investigates Santa Cruz County Jail Deaths
by N.H. Putnam, Sin Barras
Santa Cruz County, California is seen by many as a model for enlightened jail policies. But in May 2014 the Santa Cruz County Grand Jury released a report on the unusual number of deaths in the county jail in 2012 and 2013, titled “Five Deaths in Santa Cruz: An Investigation of In-Custody Deaths.”
The Grand Jury found that a lack of after-hours mental health evaluations and failures to follow procedures on the part of jail staff likely contributed to the deaths. The deaths and the report have county residents questioning whether jail is the appropriate solution for drug addiction and mental health problems.
In the mid-1990s, Santa Cruz County was a model site for the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, a program that is now recognized as a nationwide standard for reducing incarceration of juveniles. In response to a 2004 Santa Cruz Grand Jury report that found crowded and unsafe conditions in the county jail, Santa Cruz expanded several programs designed to provide alternatives to incarceration. These programs have been credited with allowing the county to reduce incarceration rates to significantly below the statewide average.
In the first ...
$1 Million for Medical Neglect Death of Wisconsin Jail Prisoner
by David M. Reutter
A Wisconsin federal jury awarded $1 million to the estate of a prisoner who died of a heart attack at the Racine County Jail (RCJ); the award came after the jury found jail officials were deliberately ...
$17,500 Settlement for Brutal Assault of Juvenile Prisoner by CCA Guard
Corrections Corporation of America paid $17,500 to settle a lawsuit alleging an employee “brutally and savagely with extreme force” assaulted a juvenile at the Tall Trees Facility.
The complaint alleged the juvenile, Joshua Giles, was assaulted on April 5, ...
$12,630.50 Settlement for CCA Prisoner Who Suffered Leg Amputation
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) paid $12,630.50 to settle a lawsuit by former prisoner Samuel L. Key for the failure to provide medical treatment that resulted in amputation of his left leg.
Key suffered circulation problems in both legs for several ...
$12,500 Settlement for CCA’s Failure to Treat Tennessee Prisoner
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) paid $12,500 to settle the lawsuit of prisoner Katie J. Farr for its failure to treat her serious medical condition while held at the Silverdale Correctional Facility in Tennessee on May 26, 2004.
The complaint alleged ...
$12,500 Settlement for CCA Guard’s Failure to Protect Tennessee Prisoner Stabbed 13 Times
Correction Corporation of America (CCA) paid $12,500 to settle a lawsuit brought by Metro-Davidson County Detention Facility prisoner Roberto J. Gatewood.
Gatewood alleged that guard Josh Evans stood by and failed to intervene when prisoner Mustafa Mohammad ...
