Former inmates sue St. Lucie jail
July 31st, 2009 by Daphne DuretBy the end of 2007, St. Lucie County jail officials were celebrating the successes of working with a shrinking jail population due in part, they said, to efforts to remedy an overcrowding problem that had been the subject of a lawsuit from the public defender’s office.
St. Lucie Sheriff Ken Mascara during a news conference at the time called the jail a success story.
But in that same year, a Stuart attorney is alleging in two lawsuits filed in July, the prison’s medical services were so wrought with inefficiency and “bean-counting” that they kept two men from finding medical remedies for eye problems that eventually left one of them blind in his left eye and forced the other to have an eye removed altogether.
“When these facilities have someone in custody they have a custodial duty to them, regardless of their station in life,” Laurence Huttman, the Stuart attorney representing the men, said Thursday. “I’m not talking about cable TV or cellphones or other luxuries, just basic custodial care.”
Huttman is suing the jail and its medical provider, Prison Health Systems, as well as a doctor, nurse practitioner and Mascara on behalf of former inmates Victor Carter and Stanley Beale.
Carter claims in court records that he complained of swelling in his left eye while at the jail in July 2007 and was treated with Benadryl despite his requests to go to the hospital. When his DUI sentence ended three days later, he said he went to the hospital and ended up being treated there for a month for a MRSA infection that eventually rendered him blind in one eye.
Beale, who was serving time on a probation violation in November, said it took jail officials 20 days to get him to an ophthalmologist after he complained he couldn’t see out of his left eye. By the time he made it to the specialist, according to the lawsuit, he was suffering from full retinal detachment and had to have his eye removed.
Martha Harbin, a spokeswoman for Prison Health Systems, said she couldn’t comment specifically on the allegations, saying the company was bound both by doctor-patient confidentiality and the active litigation.
“We can say that there is much more to this case than what is being alleged by the plaintiffs and we welcome the opportunity for all the facts to come out,” Harbin said.
St. Lucie County sheriff’s officials declined to comment, also citing the active lawsuit.
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August 3rd, 2009 at 9:54 am
This is just one more example of the ongoing neglect for
prisoners health and welfare that is so indicative of
sheriff Ken Mascara and SLSD’s policy in inmate treatment.
The Rock Road facility is run as a place for punishment and
denial of basic needs rather than a jail to detain those
who are awaiting trial and by law considered innocent. In the case of inmates serving sentences it remains the responsibility of the SLSD to insure proper and timely
medical treatment is forthcoming.
These inmates lawsuits should go forward if only as a
reminder to Sheriff Ken that he has a fiduciary duty to
those who are in his care. The only real way to avoid future lawsuits is to remove the dead wood from our
Sheriff Department starting with Sheriff Ken!
August 4th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
What is this,screw up so you can go to jail for medical treatment???If they did not do the crime,they would’nt be doing the time,and could have gotten medical attention on their own dime,like the rest of us.Custodial care my a**.
August 4th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
It has become my opinion that everyone I have met or heard from,who have issues with sheriff mascara,usually had been arrested by his department,or almost,anyways.
August 6th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
Very true - arrested or has worked for him