Officers with the Tioga Police Department in Tioga, Texas, placed Lorelei Then Palmore under arrest on April 20, 2022, and she was booked into Grayson County Jail. She told officers that she was withdrawing from meth. On her third day at the Sherman, Texas, jail, she began to vomit blood. An ambulance took Ms. Palmore to Wilson N Jones Hospital, where she died at age 63 on April 23, 2022.

Many jails today are being held accountable when inmates die from drug withdrawal. This is largely due to the fact that certain lifesaving measures are highly effective, making such deaths preventable in many cases.

A Teen Allegedly Suffers Withdrawal Death in a County Jail Outside Texas

A 19-year-old girl was arrested and placed in a county jail outside Texas. Fellow inmates have claimed that she informed guards that she was withdrawing from heroin. No treatment for drug withdrawal was provided. The teenager began experiencing uncontrollable vomiting and diarrhea, common drug withdrawal symptoms. The young woman could be seen on a jail surveillance video lying on the jail cell floor for hours as these symptoms manifested. No medication was provided to address either the vomiting or diarrhea.

The teen begged and begged for help, but there was allegedly no sign of compassion demonstrated by the jail staff. On the other hand, the jail was evaluated by another agency in that state, and the organization upheld the behavior of the county jail staff as compassionate and professional. Records show that a nurse at the jail ordered a liquid diet for the woman, but no medication was provided.

Various medical evaluations were made, and it was finally determined that she should be taken to a hospital. A nurse took her to a shower, where the inmate began jerking and seizing. Less than an hour later, she died. The autopsy showed that she died from acute bronchopneumonia, and that assessment put a stop to a criminal investigation of her death.

For more information, see Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 of this series.

Providing Texas county jail inmates with helpful resources is the reason for posts on this site. It is not intended on this website to imply that any individual or institution has engaged in misdeeds.

–Guest Contributor