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Families Question Recent Deaths in County Jails
by duo | December 12, 2008 at 07:06 pm
503 views | 1 Recommendation | 18 comments

It is often difficult to get information and accountability when family members die in county jails. The United States Department of Justice has a duty to protect the rights of institutionalized persons, including patients committed to mental hospitals and inmates in prisons and jails. The recent indictment by a Willacy, Texas grand jury against former Attorney General Gonzales indicates a possibility that the federal responsibility to protect institutionalized persons was seriously compromised during the Bush Administration.
Below are excerpts from articles that reported problems two families recently faced after their loved ones died in county jails.
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MAN'S FAMILY ASKS HOW HE DIED IN JAILWife says she learned of death after detective called his mom.
By Andrea Lorenz
AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Friday, December 12, 2008
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/12/12/1212jaildeath.html
An Austin family is trying to figure out how a 32-year-old man died while in the Hays County Law Enforcement Center on Monday and say they have received few answers from authorities.
Cynthia Smith said she wasn't told that her husband, Torrey Lamar Smith, had died until more than 24 hours after his death, when a Hays County detective called her mother-in-law with the news. She said no one has given her answers about the circumstances surrounding his death.
Torrey Smith had reported to the jail Dec. 2. An arrest warrant had been issued after he failed to make several payments on a $2,000 fine he received for a 2006 charge of endangering a child — he was arrested when officers found him in a parked vehicle on the side of a road, intoxicated and with his son in the back seat, court records say. He also had been charged with assault in Travis County in August.
Smith had been in the jail's infirmary a few days before he died, Hays County sheriff's office spokesman Leroy Opiela said. Opiela said he didn't know why. If Smith had been seriously ill, he would have been taken to a hospital, Opiela said.
Smith said her husband was in good spirits the last time she heard from him Dec. 4, four days before he died. She was waiting for a prosecutor to sign off on a bail amount, and she anticipated picking him up Tuesday, she said. That's the day her mother-in-law received notification of his death.
Cynthia Smith said she and her mother-in-law met with a detective later that morning but received few answers.
(See the link above for full article)
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FAMILY SUES INDIANA COUNTY OVER MAN'S DEATH IN JAIL
http://www.thestarpress.com/article/20081209/NEWS06/81209010
December 9, 2008
(AP) Columbia City, Ind. — The family of a man who died of heart disease in the Whitley County jail is suing county officials, alleging that they failed to provide him with proper medical care.
Fifty-seven-year-old Larry E. Walkup died at the jail in November 2006, three months after he was convicted of six counts of theft. An autopsy revealed that Walkup died of blockages in three arteries.
The suit says jail officials failed to provide Walkup with the proper medication and discouraged inmates from making health complaints. Walkup was an insurance agent . . .
(See the link above for full article)
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Reuters reports, "Former attorney general Gonzales used his position to 'stop the investigations as to the wrongdoings' - into assaults in county prisons, the indictment said.”
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Mary Neal
Website: http://wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com
Author's Page: http://www.care2.com/c2c/people/profile.html?pid=513396753
Articles: http://www.care2.com/news/member/513396753?sort=submitted
Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill
(at Care2): http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/AIMI
Crowd Power
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duo
Stone Mountain, Georgia, United States
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (18)
at 01:08 on December 14th, 2008
Thank you again, NowPublic, for this forum. This story is Front Page on Care2 and appreciated by prison advocates and HR group members at Yahoo Groups - they get a link to the article at NowPublic. (47 hits here)
Congratulations! The Care2 Community has promoted your submission to
the Care2 News Network Front Page.
In recognition for this outstanding achievement, you've

also been awarded a "Golden Note".
Thank you for contributing to the Care2 Community!
- The Care2 Team
at 12:58 on December 14th, 2008
My younger brother, Andy, died April 8th, 2006 @ the Albany County Jail in New York State. He was 44 years old & had been incarcerated since Hallowen of 2005, charged with attempted murder. He hit a female college student with his taxi after she & her friend refused to pay him. The Sheriff's office notified his girlfriend, who notified me the following day about noon. Supossedly, he had a massive coronary. The victim had stated that she didn't believe Andy had tried to kill her. She stated that he drove up on the sidewalk at a low rate of speed, presumably to scare her, & that she panicked & zigged when she should have zagged, hit the hood of the taxi & was knocked down. Her injury, a bruised knee, did not require a stay in the hospital. Albany County refused to lower the charge, so my brother was waiting a trial, where he would have admitted to vehicular assault.
at 18:11 on December 14th, 2008
Bill, I am so sorry to hear about your brother, Andy. There are many of us, you know - people who have lost loved ones due to an unjust system of "justice." This has been happening since the beginning of time - the wealthy and powerful traditionally ignore the humanity of people who have less wealth and power. In America, it is supposed to be different. I recited the Pledge of Allegiance every morning as a student, and I really believe it! Citizens have a right to equal justice under the law. I demand it, and I hope you will stand with us and demand it for our most vulnerable citizens - the incarcerated mentally ill. See more about our justice quest for the mentally ill in prison at the links after my signature in the article.
Here is what I mean about the Pledge:
My Flag, My Country! http://my.nowpublic.com/culture/my-flag-my-country-mary-neal
Bill, please write to your Senators and Congresspersons and our new White House Administration and let them know that you expect them to prioritize bringing justice into the USDOJ and law enforcement in America. Here is the link to write your congressional reps:
http://www.house.gov/writerep
CQ: Guide to New Members of Congress: http://www.cqpoliti cs.com/wmspage. cfm?parm1= 158
at 14:13 on December 14th, 2008
I recommend this story in principal even though my browser wont let me recommend it in practice
at 18:17 on December 14th, 2008
Thank you, Sputnic. I fight my way to post anything. I am not surprised you were not allowed to recommend. One of my Care2 friends told me she had to try six times before being allowed to recommend and post a comment to the story on Care2. The good news is that all of this control and interference probably indicates that we are being effective in getting the word out and changing attitudes about abuse to inmates, particularly in county jails and private prisons.
I pay a high price to bring this news - I am essentially under house arrest. When I try to leave home, I am followed by up to four vehicles and a government vehicle. Other members of my family have also been targeted because we dare to keep asking, "What happened to Larry Neal?" See this:
TERRORISM FROM SOURCES UNKNOWN AFTER LAWSUIT AGAINST THE JOHNNIE COCHRAN FIRM.
http://my.nowpublic.com/world/terrorism-sources-unknown-after-lawsuit-against-johnnie-cochran-firm
Additionally, I found out last night that I am not allowed to email this article from this page using the email button. When I load the field with email addresses, the error message tells me that my email address is not valid one by one until it eliminates all of them. Already I cannot DIGG or StumbleUpon any of my articles. Censorship is the necessary pre-requisite to any facsist governmental system. Today, I posted this:
A PLEA FOR FREE SPEECH, by Frederick Douglass - Boston 1860
http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/985240
So you see, it is nothing new in America for African Americans, and other disenfranchised people of whatever race, to be forced to suffer in silence. My family is not the first and probably won't be the last to be censored after abuses by the system.
Mary Neal
http://wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com
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at 10:19 on January 5th, 2009
I have had the same experience here in Virginia Beach, Virginia . My 19 yr old son died in jail in January of 2006 ,3YEARS LATER AND STILL NO ANSWERS. I am glad that someone finally took the effort to bring these tradgies to light . I will be more than happy to sign your petition . The other problem that i had to indure was attorneys that refused to take cases of the (family members) of inmates that have die in jails that is another issue that should be delt with ,not wanting to go up aganist the jails, I sincerley hope that this petition gets the mental health sevices that the inmates deaerve and need,
at 21:47 on January 5th, 2009
Thank you for writing, Sarah. I am very sorry about what happened to your son. Was he an African American or a mental patient? They seem to get the worse end of the stick.
Unfortunately, I discovered there is a reason why attorneys don't take such cases. They know that it is not simply a jail at fault, but a justice system that protects correctional facilities where deaths and abuses of prisoners occur. The attorneys know they may not get far with their investigations and legal cases. It was not until late this summer that I learned that each inmate who is well is worth $50,000 per year to prison profiteers, and each inmate who is sick is worth $150,000 per year to prison profiteers. (These dollar figures are conservative estimates. A federal judge ordered California to build new prison hospitals at the cost of $8 billion and warehouse each sick inmate there at an estimated rate of $230,000 per year.) Additionally, prison labor, which is not protected by normal wage/hour laws and safety regulations, nets prison profiteers quit a few more dollars annually. The stock for private prisons is traded on Wall Street. Therefore, people who invest in private prisons, including a good many judges, lawyers, media owners, and elected officials, do not care to improve the justice system or to investigate prison deaths and abuses. Dog deaths and abuses get more investigative effort in the U.S.
Just as the Bible teaches, the love of money is at the root of all evil. The denial of justice in America is no exception.
Thanks for writing. Please see my latest article and share the news of your tragedy there. Only by exposing such horrors can we ever hope for CHANGE, and this is why I am greatly censored. Werewolves don't want to change. They want to continue sucking the blood of hundreds of thousands of non-violent offenders, mental patients, and American taxpayers who must pay MILLIONS of dollars over the course of a single prisoner's life sentence.
New Word Order, Here So Soon?
http://my.nowpublic.com/world/new-world-order-here-so-soon
Blessings,
Mary
at 15:51 on April 28th, 2009
I would like everyone that has lost a loved one in jail, Myself and my family feels the pain and the not knowing why the let our loved ones die, My brother vernon Hall JR. was sentenced 5 months in jail, he was an asmatic, he was very much loved by everyone, but Eastern KY. jails let my brother suffer so much. He collassped in the jail and never regained concious. I watched his body litterally deteriate. I will never ever will get that out of my mind. He would still be with us today if the jails cared, just a little. Our only comfort now is that we will meet him in heaven someday. The jail let our brother's body die but they will never take away our memories and the love in our hearts. The people responsile for all this will have to face God someday, I don't think they will make it through the pearly gates to see the kingdom of GOD. MY brother died April 15, 2008 . TIP
at 11:21 on April 29th, 2009
Brenda, I am sorry for your loss. Your brother, Vernon, was blessed to have his family's love. I know it was hard seeing Vernon and knowing that he was deprived of medical attention that should have been rendered, watching him worsen with each visit you made. Many people who are sentenced to jails and prisons for minor offenses like your brother wind up seriously injured or dead. A mere five- month sentence means that Vernon could not have done something truly horrible, yet his sentence wound up being the death penalty due to inadequate medical attention. You do not say so, but I imagine you and your brother asked for medical intervention for his asthma, but did not get it.
Nothing has surprised me more than learning how inhumane America's correctional facilities are. People hear lies about inmates living the good life in jail with color TV and weight rooms. I have read reports from former prisoners alleging that there is an effort in private prisons to maximize profits by withholding medical care and good nutrition. Maybe inmates do have that available, but they also have mean guards, sometimes sadistic ones. Prison guards know that they will not be held accountable if they abuse or kill inmates.
I suppose you read what happened to my own brother in Shelby County Jail in Memphis, Tennessee. The police were apparently sick of dealing with his mental illness after many misdemeanor arrests spanning 20 years. In 2003, they arrested him and killed him through depravation of his heart meds, or perhaps they did something worse to Larry. The jail refuses to say what happened to him, and no one will make them release records or file a proper report. I cannot believe such violations against the rights of a private citizen are allowed to stand in America, but this is apparently not the country I thought it was and had been taught to believe.
Question: Can you come to the "HUMAN RIGHTS FOR PRISONERS MARCH in Atlanta on May 16" ? My cyberstalkers have taken away my capacity to post a link here in this comment field, so just put those exact words in your browser.
I am greatly censored because authorities seek to hide my brother's murder and the elaborate cover-up that the higher-ups engage in to avoid accountability for the criminal way they avoid obeying the law regarding his death and to deprive his survivors of due process of law. So, although I cannot post the link for you, you can just copy and paste the words within the quotes, and please bring your family!
Blessings!
Mary Neal
at 11:33 on April 29th, 2009
NOW PUBLIC, I AM BEING CENSORED AGAIN OR WE ARE AGAIN HAVING TECHNICAL ISSUES AT THIS ARTICLE. I HAVE NO RICH TEXT COMMENT FIELD. MAYBE I AM WRONG, BUT I FEEL IT IS AN ATTEMPT TO ENSURE I CANNOT POST LINKS AT THIS THREAD. PLEASE FIX THIS.
IN CASE YOU DID NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS CENSORSHIP OR "TECHNICAL ISSUE," NOW YOU DO.
IN CASE IT IS MY CYBERSTALKERS AT WORK, PLEASE KNOW THAT YOU JUST GAVE AN ESSENTIALLY LAZY WOMAN THE IMPETUS NEEDED TO REALLY DO THE WORK THAT IS NEEDED. YOU SHOULD KNOW BY NOW THAT THINGS LIKE THIS REALLY GIVE ME THAT EXTRA ZEST THAT IS SOMETIMES MISSING FROM SOUTHERNERS.
at 06:40 on May 12th, 2009
Thank you Mary
at 11:34 on May 12th, 2009
Brenda, I wish you peace. God bless you. Never forget your brother, and know that many like him are in prison today and being deprived of medical care that they need. I have one online friend whose son contracted hepitiis in the overcroweded California prison system. No attempt was made at first to separate him from the other prisoners who could be infected. He was receiving no care, either.
I have another online friend whose son, Jeremy, is deteriorating fast in isolated confinement, and he is not on the list to receive any doctor's visits or medication. This report was made to Jeremy's mother by the prison psychologist. Jeremy's problem is not physical like your brother's was, but mental. His mom reports that this young schizophrenic patient was urged to sign a "deal" for EIGHT YEARS IN PRISON for what sounds like a simple assault. He is now in a solitary confinement torture hole. www.thepetitionsite.com/1/JusticeForJeremy
at 06:07 on May 14th, 2009
Mary I am so proud of you, your determination inspires me greatly. The traggic abuse and neglect that was forced upon my brother was widely known. My mother Doris Hall Bates called the jail and visited him, she constantly told them he was very sick, the jailor , the nurse, the guards, they all knew and still chose to let him die. 3 weeks before my brother died, he told our mother ( mom if you don't get me out of here I am going to die ) ! Those words haunt my mother everyday. They were best friends as well as mother and son. My dad is suffering also, he always says he feels like he not only lost a son, but his best friend. My brother would help anyone in need. I need your help Mary, to not let this happen to our loved ones, 2 weeks before my brother died, he had pneumonia and sepsis, contracted from the county jail. They knew all along, but did nothing. we have had 3 different lawyers, they all agreed they litterally gave him a death sentence, but denyed the case, The statue of wronful death is 1 year, that will never stop me from letting people know what happened to my brother. Mary if there is anyway my voice can be heard I know you are the person to help me. I have read your e-mails and I also you are on the same mission as I am God Bless you for that. People has to know that they can not let our loved ones die and all will be forgotten, we know that will never ever happen.
at 10:38 on May 14th, 2009
God bless you, my sister. Your voice is not for your brother now. He does not need it. The next sound he hears with be the beautiful music of Heaven. He is at peace right now. Please tell your parents they will see him again. All is well in the Lord.
You need not worry about wrongdoers getting away with your brother's murder. They have not and they will not. The Lord specializes in problems of good vs. evil, and He always wins. So just know that. One by one you will hear of those people's downfall. Some of their problems, you may not ever know about. But God loves Justice! Unless they repent from their wrongdoing, they will pay. If they repent, your family will know, because they will apologize. So you don't have to wonder where they stand with God. They stand on the precipice to hell.
Your voice now must be for the living! Everyone I know who does excellent advocacy for prisoners was drafted for the work like you and I have been. It was not a choice. Some lost loved ones to police violence, prison abuse, and some have relatives who are prisoners. Some may be ex-cons. I have a dear online friend who is a police abuse victim. She thought she was insulated against such thngs by her gender, education, and her professional job. But, she was not. It can happen to anyone!
Prisoner activists I met are serious about bettering prison conditions - like you and I am. No, I am not so naive as to think all prisoners are innocent - most are guilty as charged. But they were sentenced to incarceration, not torture! That is the point. They are human beings and mostly American citizens. One day, 90% of them will be released back into our communities. They don't need the prison system to turn them into animals while they are locked up! If so, they will leave there worse than when they entered, even mentally ill although they walked in with a sound mind.
If you join Care2, you will get a web page to tell about issues of importance to you free of charge. You can tell what happened to your dear brother and use your pain as a way to engage people and start more people to thinking about suffering behind American prison walls HERE IN AMERICA. It is almost as bad as the War on Terror camps. What is worse - waterboarding that leaves the victims living, or torture like your brother and mine went through that killed?
If you join Care2, then please join Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill. We not only address the need to decriminalize mental illness. We are interested in health care in general, like you are, and all justice matters that face defenseless people behind bars. We even have an incarcerated persons who are members and they participate in discussions and have much insight, naturally. Look among the human rights groups for ours - the red jail house with the buzzard on top. Here are some people you might want to meet online:
National Alliance for Prisoners' Rights
www.nafpr.4t.com/
Wrongful Death and Injury Institute, Inc.
www.wrongfuldeathinstitute.com/
People Against Prison Abuse
www.peopleagainstprisonabuse.com
Patrick Crusade
www.patrickcrusade.org/
Wrongful Death Institute and PAPA will want a full report on your brother. They may even be able to help you get a form of justice. Not every law has the same statute of limitations. Maybe the folks who jailed and murdered your brother broke laws that have time left. Regarding your advocacy, if you are interested in doing that, you will know when you become highly effective, because you will be assigned your own censorship task force! LOL! Like they say, "This is your mission should you choose to accept it." Some people are "lifers" when it comes to prison advocacy. I am an enlisted woman. I expected to do "short time." It just worked out that our justice quest is still unresolved, like yours is. I have given it my all, but I had hoped . . . In any case, I had "time added." So be it.
Did you read my article about Saturday's HUMAN RIGHTS FOR PRISONERS MARCH IN ATLANTA? http://my.nowpublic.com/world/human-rights-prisoners-march-planned-may-16-atlanta
I should be preparing for that now, but it unnerved me to get chased again this morning. See on YouTube: Cochran Firm Fraud 1 and 2. It is a TRIP what I go through!
Blessings!
Mary
at 17:22 on May 22nd, 2009
Dear Mary, I hope your mission here on is doing well. I have read so many sad stories on this site, my heart feels so much pain and sorrow for every family that is going through these horrific times.I could only imangine the pain each and evryone of the families that the jail sytem has almost destroyed. The one thing they forgot is there are people like us and many more that will not tolerrate thier sadistic ways, your strength and the other people on this site is giving me more inspiration to let the whole world know, we will not stand by and let them kill a part of our lives and they don't even have any remorse, as long as we all stand together and say NO ! The whole world needs to know how bad things really are in the prisons and jails. I know I will never stop letting people know that Prestonsburg KY. jail neglected ny brother Vernon Hall JR. { DUCK }, they transferred him to Three Forks in Beattyville KY. By then he was so neglected so much his body could not tahe anymore. Mary I told my mother about your loss, she is a very strong and religious woman like yourself, she is so grateful that there is someone like you and others who are not afraid to put thier voice and opinion out there no matter what happens. I only hope that anyone out there that can help my family and myself show me the way to let people hear my voice, I will also support anyone that has and always will go through this heartache we feel everyday of our lives. GOD BLESS YOU MARY AND ALL THE FAMILIES TIP
at 18:28 on May 22nd, 2009
Hello, Brenda. May I ask you a quick question? Are you a woman of color? Are you an African American or Latino? The reason I ask is that I have figured out something. Actually, Judge Batten helped me. I discovered I am "immaterial."
Perhaps that is also your problem. You and your family may be people of color or white people with limited means. "Immaterial" people have another whole set of rules and laws that apply, and they are written nowhere - just whatever the higher-ups feel like on a given day.
You may believe that if you keep trying to get justice for Vernon, you will eventually. I doubt it, frankly. The problem with that logic is that someone along the justice trail would have to be genuine. Then a person can keep working their way up the trail until they find a genuine person in a decision making capacity. Well, guess what? That is what I BELIEVED, too. But see? Finding a faithful person is now and has always been hard - real hard!
Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man, who can find? ~ Proverbs 20:6
Tell your mama I don't keep typing because I am tenacious or brave. I do it because when I leave home I am followed by up to four vehicles and a USDOT truck, and I am really so scared of these sociopaths that I am forced to remain home maybe forever - I don't know. I thought it was over because so many thousands of people know about this. But when I left home to drive to the store about a week ago, three cars came and I had to turn around, get behind a school bus for company, and make it back to my house. Click on my dog icon and see the article regarding a Petition for Sgt. Russel that I was just completing. See the comments. You will be amazed at what happened today and by whom. I am still amazed all the time. Frankly, I don't know what to think or do.
When so many higher-ups seem to be opposed to you, what is there to do? I left the boat without knowing what was happening. Now I have been out here walking on water for a long time. I don't want to be like Peter who started to sink. I try to keep my eyes on Jesus and know that He is able no matter how the waves rise and toss me to and fro. I tell you one thing -- I believe there really is a NWO. But here is hope! They don't like God, paying damages, or Barack Obama. I know this for a fact, by what my cyberstalkers delete and try to distort online. See comments on my article "Why I believe Obama is an honest leader." I told the truth in the comments that I withheld from the article itself.
Blessings! Come to AIMI when you get ready to work or be with people who understand. If you do have a moment to look at Sgt. Russel's petition article, please use the link and sign it.
Mary
at 19:29 on May 22nd, 2009
Dear Mary, I am white, my Grandson is 8, he is Hawaiian, most people thinks he is caucasion and african american,but it doesn't matter that his skin color is dark. I know there are people in this cruel world that basis people on thier race,We all were created equal, but there our alot of people in this world that has a very dim look at life. My mother;s best friend in life is African American, she has been with my mother though all of this,her name is Mrs, Gertrude Tyson, My mother Doris has been on tours with Reverend Jesse Jackson, Mrs. Tyson also sings gospel songs at a t.v. station in Beattyville K.Y., she loved my brother very much and he loved her, she has had alot of loss in her life, she is 82 years young, she is an inspiration to us also. I do understand about the way some people judge people, those people that do should know GOD is the only one that can do that, no matter the race,rich,poor, no man should not judge another.I think Obama will make this world a better place to live in, than it has. GOD BLESS MARY!
at 19:53 on May 22nd, 2009
Brenda, I am so color blind that it sometimes takes me aback to recognize that some people actually determine how they will treat a person based on that. I will tell you a funny. One day a man from my company's other branch invited me to lunch. Over lunch, he asked me how many other black people worked in the branch office where I worked. I counted my best friends quickly in my head and said 8. When I got back to work and Debbie and I were talking, I realized what I had done. Actually, there were only two other African Americans in the branch, and I did not work directly with them or know them. I had just counted my peeps and given him the number of my friends while really concentrating on the loaded baked potato in front of me!
But I think there are plenty of people - even decision makers - who allow race to matter very much, Brenda, and that includes people in all racial groups. I think they must have been taught to think that way. Young children never do.
And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. ~ Matthew 18:3