Alabama jail targeted with lawsuits after inmates die of gangrene, broken bones, and constipation

Deundrez Woods

Three times last year Madison County jailers watched small-time criminals die before their eyes, according to a series of three lawsuits filed in federal court.

Each argues that Madison County withholds the most basic medical care in order to save money, banking on the insurance of the medical contractor to cover any resulting lawsuits.

The lawsuits are filled with maladies long ago conquered by modern medicine. Death by gangrene, from broken bones, from constipation.

Deundrez Woods, a 19-year-old from Huntsville, was arrested for shoplifting Star Wars DVDs at Wal-Mart in June of 2013 and then for passing a phony $100 bill in July. He was sent to jail, the suit asserts, where a wound in his foot became infected and he died.

At first, he behaved normally. The suit states as gangrene took hold, he suffered a "severe and sudden change in mental functioning," began hallucinating and could no longer communicate.

"Woods' mental status change was due to that infection, and he ultimately died from a blood clot that originated in his gangrenous foot," reads the complaint filed in U.S. District Court on Tuesday.

Instead of receiving treatment, the suit states, Woods was placed in a "medical observation cell" on Aug. 6, 2013. He had no access to water after Aug. 12. There is no record of him eating after Aug. 14. No nurses visited him after Aug. 14.

The suit contends that as his rotting foot began to stink, guards dragged him from the cell on Aug. 17, sprayed him down with water and placed him in a new cell.

"Still, no correction officer or ACH nurse did anything to even check Woods, let alone help him," reads the complaint. The suit contends that jail records show no one took his temperature, checked his blood sugar or assessed his condition. "The gangrenous wound on top of his right foot was clearly visible had anyone bothered to look."

"Woods went from normal, to aggressive and disruptive, to barely responsive, to all but dead as correction and medical staff watched."

Tanyatta Woods, the mother of Deundrez, this week filed the federal suit against Madison County, Sheriff Blake Dorning, jailers, physicians, nurses and the medical contractor, Advanced Correctional Healthcare. She claims all were deliberately indifferent to the well-being of her son, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Jeff Rich, attorney for Madison County, said the county does not comment on pending litigation. Rich said the three lawsuits are "being vigorously defended."

Woods' lawsuit asserts that Dorning, jail administrator Steve Morrison, Dr. Arthur Williams, the director of medical care at the jail, and Dr. Norman Johnson, who is the CEO of Advanced Correctional Healthcare, are "part of an explicit or implicit agreement or plan to delay or deny necessary medical care to avoid having to pay for medical care."

The Woods suit refers to two other similar deaths in the county lockup last year.

Tanisha Jefferson

Tanisha Jefferson, 30, died of a bowel obstruction in the Madison County jail on Oct. 31, 2013. That suit, also filed this week, contends she had been constipated for 13 days, denied medical care and left untreated.

Jefferson was arrested at her home on Oct. 14, 2013 and booked for harassment. She began to complain of pain by Oct. 19. The suit alleges she made several requests to see a doctor and filed a medical grievance on Oct. 25, saying she had been ill for 10 or 11 days. She said that she believed her life was in jeopardy on Oct. 28.

She saw Dr. Williams on Oct. 29. The suit alleges Williams "misrepresented her condition in his note, among other things, completely omitting Jefferson's alarm symptoms, including her severe and worsening abdominal pain, lack of appetite (for days), rectal pain and vomiting."

The suit contends even one of those symptoms prompts further evaluation for bowel obstruction. Williams prescribed laxatives. Jefferson was returned to her cell.

On Oct. 30, she began sweating and developed difficulty breathing or walking. She saw a nurse on Oct. 31. Medical personnel were informed of her deteriorating condition, reads the suit, but Jefferson was returned to her cell. She passed out at 8:40 p.m. "Even then Jefferson was not sent to the hospital."

She was placed in a wheelchair and taken to the medical department within the jail for observation. An ambulance was called when she became nonresponsive at 9:09 p.m. She soon died.

Hank Sherrod, a civil rights attorney in Florence, filed all three lawsuits. In each case Sherrod argues the deteriorating condition was obvious to a layperson.

The third lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in July, alleges that 61-year-old Nikki Listau died from a broken femur after she fell out of her bunk in jail.

Nikki Listau

Listau, who had been to jail at least four times in three years, was booked on March 10, 2013, for harassing communications. The lawsuit alleges Listau was experiencing seizures from alcohol withdrawal which caused her to fall.

"Before she was found unresponsive, ACH and jail personnel had numerous opportunities to save Listau's life by sending her to the hospital."

Listau was placed in medical observation at 2 p.m. on March 10, shortly after being taken to jail.

At 8:42 a.m. the next morning, a guard found her "naked on the floor of her cell, rambling incoherently." They cancelled her court appearance. At 9:40 a.m., guards picked her up and put her back in bed. By 11:19 a.m., she was unresponsive. She died at the hospital the next day.

The lawsuit states the autopsy found severe blunt force injuries, including broken ribs and the broken leg. The suit claims: "Despite Listau's condition, Listau received no treatment; defendants just watched Listau deteriorate and eventually die."

The county has had time to answer the Listau complaint, and disagreed with all allegations related to inadequate care and cited insufficient evidence in the details related to Listau's condition.

"These Defendants deny that their alleged actions and/or inactions violated the appropriate standard of care and further deny that their alleged actions and/or inactions proximately caused the Decedent's death."

Sherrod in all three suits alleges that Advanced Correctional Healthcare must provide substantial insurance coverage and indemnify the sheriff and the county. The suits argue the arrangement shields the county and leaves staff free to ignore obvious medical problems within the jail.

"ACH's business model, reflected in the agreement, succeeds by underbidding the competition and implementing severe cost control measures, the necessary result of which is inmate suffering and liability claims (dealt with through liability insurance.)"