Category: City Jails|County Jails|Custodial Death|Medical Care|Mental Health Issues|Outside Texas

To continue the ongoing story, the 21-year-old inmate with bipolar disorder had been tased three times in a row while sitting in a restraint chair with a spit mask over his head. Afterward, a deputy said that the inmate’s skin had become hot to the touch.

One of the deputies in the jail summoned a nurse who had only been on the job for about a week. It was a few minutes before midnight. Records indicate that the nurse stayed inside the cell with the inmate for 51 seconds before exiting.

The nurse later explained that he was not trained on how to check an inmate’s blood pressure while strapped into a restraint chair. No assessment was made of the inmate’s blood pressure, pulse, airway, or respiration. The nurse later said that he was unaware that the inmate had been stunned with an electronic weapon or that he had been kicked or punched.

Another 100 minutes passed with no one checking on the inmate. At 1:30 am, a senior jailer looked into the cell and reported that the inmate was dead.

Learn more about this story, including more details about the events that took place at the out-of-state jail after the arrest of the inmate with bipolar disorder, in Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.

The posts on this site are intended to provide information. There is no intent to denote in any of this website’s posts that an institution, organization, or person engaged in any type of wrongdoing.

–Guest Contributor

A nurse who tried to bring to light many concerns about the way inmate medical care was being handled was fired. A 68-year-old inmate is among those who are said to have suffered as a result of losing the care of that nurse. On the day the nurse was let go, that was the last time the inmate, who had diabetes and chronic hypertension, had his blood pressure monitored appropriately.

The next check of the inmate’s blood pressure was eight days later, according to records. Less than two months after being arrested, a jailer found him to be in distress. A nurse at the jail was unable to find the pulse, and he was transported to a hospital. The inmate was pronounced dead at the hospital and the official cause was narrowing and hardening of coronary arteries, which is frequently linked to high blood pressure.

The inmate’s family has accused the company in charge of medical care at the jail of deliberate indifference to the man’s serious medical needs.

A 21-year-old with a history of bipolar disorder, for which he took medication, was arrested on January 1, 2015. Jailers were informed by police officers that the man was a “49,” which is code for a person with mental disabilities. One of the arresting officers sought to bring the inmate to a hospital for a check-up on his mental health, but a supervisor refused to give approval of the request.

Learn more about this story, including details of events that preceded the custodial death of the 21-year-old inmate, in this ongoing series. Also, see Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, and Part 7.

The posts on this site are intended to provide information. There is no intention to infer in this or any other post on the website that an individual, institution, or organization engaged in any type of misconduct.

–Guest Contributor