Judge’s order: Elliott Williams’ jail cell became ‘burial crypt

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**reds8n**

truly dreadful story.

https://www.readfrontier.com/investigation/judges-order-elliott-williams-jail-cell-became-burial-crypt/?utm_content=bufferdc2e6&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

After more than five days on the concrete floor of his jail cell, Elliott Williams died naked, cold and alone, unable to move.

Hungry and thirsty, Williams screamed for help but couldn’t convince anyone at Tulsa’s David L. Moss Detention Center to help him.

Detention officers at the Tulsa Jail tossed three styrofoam trays of jail food at his feet, but Williams could not retrieve them. Though Williams begged for something to drink, he couldn’t pick up the styrofoam cups of water they placed near him.

One day turned to two, three and four days. On the fifth day, none of the jail’s staff bothered to enter Williams’ cell, Medical Cell #1.

The jail’s medical staff began to wonder if Williams might actually be paralyzed from a broken neck, as he claimed. But those in charge did nothing to find out whether his claims were true.

Instead, they watched him slowly dying on a video camera.

On the morning of the sixth day, the 37-year-old veteran who faced no formal charge died on the floor of his cell. The jail’s medical staff performed CPR on his lifeless body but it was too late to save Williams, pronounced dead Oct. 27, 2011.

In a key ruling Wednesday, a federal judge found that a federal civil rights lawsuit by Williams’ family against the county can go forward.

“A reasonable jury could find that Mr. Williams’ needs were obvious to any layperson,” states the ruling by U.S. District Judge John Dowdell.

“They could also find that the medical unit-wide attitude of inhumanity and indifference shown to him, which resulted in the delay and denial of medical care in the face of his symptoms that were obviously indicative of a serious medical condition or medical emergency, amounted to deliberate indifference.”

Dowdell’s order denied motions by the defendants — Sheriff Vic Regalado and former Sheriff Stanley Glanz — to dismiss the suit. The judge also ruled that jail videos depicting Williams are admissible in the case, as are prior reviews or audits that found problems in the jail.

Dowdell’s 55 page ruling includes a blunt condemnation of the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office jail staff for failing to help Williams. (An autopsy found he died from complications of a broken neck and noted he was seriously dehydrated.)

“A significant number of jail staff were aware that Mr. Williams did not walk, stand, sit up, eat, or drink on his own for days,” Dowdell’s ruling states.

Attorney Dan Smolen, who represents Williams’ family, said Dowdell’s ruling Wednesday was powerful but not surprising, given the facts of the case.

“It’s rare that you have a set of facts that would dictate such a an emotional response. … It’s one of the very few cases that shows what I would consider to be complete inhumanity,” Smolen said.

“I don’t think anyone can objectively look at the facts — no matter what your religion, what your race — and argue that the way that this guy was treated was appropriate.”

Smolen noted that no one has been held accountable for Williams’ death, despite an OSBI investigation and some interest by the U.S. Department of Justice. He hopes Wednesday’s ruling prompts a federal investigation of Williams’ death.

Clark Brewster, the county’s attorney in this case and numerous similar cases, said in an email to The Frontier that Dowdell “at this stage, as a legal standard must assume the facts alleged by the plaintiff as true.”

“The ruling is solely based on legal sufficiency and it is rare that any court will dismiss a case, even those that are clearly frivolous. … We trust that a jury in this case will carefully exercise their duty after a trial where the county will be zealously defended.”

The Williams case is one of at least a dozen civil rights lawsuits against the county for deaths and serious injuries in the jail. Verdicts against the county in the Williams case, or any of the other suits, could cost county taxpayers millions.

Earlier this year, a jury found against the county, ruling that the Sheriff’s Office deliberately indifferent, in the first of these cases to reach trial stage.

Smolen noted Wednesday that Tulsa County commissioners and Regalado are ultimately responsible for the outcome in Williams’ case and the other jail lawsuits. The commissioners have said little publicly about their role in overseeing the quality of medical care at the jail.

“You can refuse to acknowledge what’s happening and people are going to die but it’s going to catch up with you,” he said.

Glanz and the county have denied liability in Williams’ case, saying if failures existed, they did not rise to the level of “deliberate indifference” that the plaintiffs are required to prove.

Though Glanz is no longer sheriff, Dowdell’s ruling leaves him as an individual defendant in the lawsuit. Regalado, and by extension the county, is the “official capacity” defendant.

The plaintiffs have already settled with the jail’s former medical provider, Correctional Healthcare Companies Inc., based in Nashville, for an undisclosed amount.

CHC was sold to Correct Care Solutions Inc., of Nashville, in 2014. Correct Care Solutions is one of several companies bidding on a new jail medical contract, worth about $5 million per year.

It’s unclear why the contract is being put out for bids now, because the county commissioners voted to renew the current contract with Armor Correctional Health Services Inc. just last month.

Mental breakdown, then arrest

Dowdell’s ruling recounts the history of Williams’ case and many points along the way his death might have been prevented.

On Oct. 21, 2011, Williams’ relatives took him to an Owasso hotel “because Elliott had not slept in days and was having psychological issues,” the ruling states. A breakup with his wife had left Williams despondent and he caused a disturbance in the hotel lobby.

Owasso police responded and the situation escalated. Williams, who relatives said had been diagnosed as bipolar in the military, said he wanted to die and did not comply with officers’ commands to sit down.

Rather than wait for a mobile mental health unit to arrive, Owasso police pepper sprayed Williams and took him to the city jail. Once there, Williams descended further into psychosis, hiding under a bench, taking off his clothes and barking like a dog.

Though inpatient beds are often scarce, Owasso police did not attempt to find a mental health facility that would take Williams. Instead, they decided they couldn’t handle Williams and took him to the Tulsa Jail, booking him in at 1:50 a.m. Oct. 22, 2011.

When Williams failed to cooperate at the jail, Owasso officers threw him to the floor, with one officer landing on top of him. After that takedown, Williams had difficulty walking, though wasn’t yet saying he was paralyzed.

Despite his threats of suicide, Williams was not placed on suicide watch. Instead, he was placed in a holding cell, where 45 minutes later, he allegedly rammed his head into the steel door of his cell and fell to the ground, not moving.

He told detention officers and jail medical staff he had broken his neck. However, for more than 10 hours, Williams was left in the holding cell without attention.

During that time, detention supervisors knew about Williams’ claims his neck was broken, including “Watch Commander Captain Wood, booking supervisors Corporal (Arthur) Jackson and Sergeant (Carla) Housley, and the Housing Supervisor, Sergeant (Jack) Reusser,” Dowdell’s order states.

Early the next morning, when Williams was still unable to move, the jail staff declared a “medical emergency.” However, the “head nurse” for the jail “cussed at and berated Williams, telling him that he should be ‘ashamed’ of himself, to get his ‘nasty ass’ in the shower, and to ‘quit fething faking.’”

Capt. Tommy Fike and Sgt. Doug Hinshaw placed Williams on a gurney and “dumped Mr. Williams off the gurney into the shower,” Dowdell’s ruling states, “where Wiliams hit his head with a ‘smack.’”

Williams was left in the shower for up to three hours, unable to move.

“Throughout the first day at the jail, Mr. Williams continued to tell his captors that he was paralyzed and unable to move or walk,” Dowdell’s ruling notes.

A detention officer had to “pour water into his mouth” and feed him a bologna sandwich by holding his head up. However an LPN, Raymond Stiles, appeared to doubt Williams’ claims of paralysis.

“Wants to be waited on,” Stiles’ wrote in a “progress note.”

Cell became ‘burial crypt’

For the next three days — Oct. 23 through 25 — some jail medical staff and detention officers expressed concerns about Williams’ condition but did not provide medical treatment or call 911.

John Bell, a member of the jail’s mental health staff, visited briefly with Williams on the evening of Oct. 24. During the visit, Williams told Bell he was paralyzed and said, “I want water.”

“Williams still received no medical care. Instead, Bell recorded in notes that he provided Williams ‘education’ regarding ‘coping skills,’” the judge’s order states.

Dr. Stephen Harnish, a psychiatrist employed by the jail’s medical provider, failed to visit Williams until Oct. 25, three days after Williams claimed he had a broken neck. Though jail staff thought Williams was pretending to be paralyzed, Harnish ordered no neurological exam or “any type of medical examination” during the 12 minute visit to rule out paralysis, the order says.

In a footnote, Dowdell notes that even if Williams was faking paralysis, “that would not have eliminated the obligation to provide him adequate nutrition and hydration” as well as medical care.

“Instead of providing or ordering medical care, Harnish ordered jail staff to place Mr. Williams in Medical Cell number 1, which would be his burial crypt. … The remainder of Williams’ life was recorded by a video camera.”

Detention officers placed Williams, who was naked, on a blanket and dragged him into the cell.

That day, jail staff tossed two trays of food into Williams’ cell, where they remained for two days because he was unable to reach them or feed himself. He was also unable to reach a cup of water placed nearby.

On day five, Oct. 26, no jail staff entered Williams’ cell. Though LPN Kimberly Hughes expressed concern, Detention Officers Steven Smith and Crystal Rich refused to open Williams’ cell door, “claiming they could not do so for safety reasons.”

The order notes Williams had not been violent or aggressive toward officers there appeared to be no basis for that warning.

Another mental health team member, Patricia Benoit, noted that Williams was “still refusing to move” on the morning of Oct. 26. An LPN, Carmen Luca, also noted that Williams had said he couldn’t move.

By that evening, LPN Devorsha Stewart reported that Williams was “partially covered by a blanket, shaking” and unresponsive.

Still, the jail’s nurses, doctors, mental health professionals and detention officers did nothing to assist Williams.

Dowdell’s order states: “Although Williams had repeatedly announced, for over four days, to numerous jail staff, that he was paralyzed, could not move, could not get up, and was thirsty, and while he had not eaten, had water, or moved from the position to which he was dragged more than 36 hours before, Stewart recorded that she ‘encouraged (Williams) to inform staff of needs or concerns.’”

On the last day of Williams’ life, Oct. 27, jail staff threw a third tray of food into his cell, this time pushing it through a hole in the door.

John Bell, identified as a mental health team member, noted Williams was laying on the floor with spit on his cheek, mumbling. A visiting medical resident, Dr. Khadga Limbu, saw Williams and expressed concern about his condition, conducting a reflex test on his feet with little response. (The reflex test was the only documented medical attention Williams received before his death.)

Limbu told the jail’s medical director, Dr. Phillip Washburn, that Williams needed medical attention. Washburn would later say he didn’t check on Williams and didn’t recall being asked to do so.

“Washburn testified that, ‘If it happened, it was my bad. Because if a resident Doctor would have said that he needed to be sent out (to the hospital) I would have sent him right out.’”

Under the jail’s $5 million annual contract, Washburn was responsible for treating inmates with illnesses and injuries. Under state law, the Tulsa County sheriff (Glanz at the time) is responsible for overseeing all jail operations, including the medical contract.

Just after 11 a.m. on Oct. 27, 2011, Williams was found unresponsive, “more than five days after being detained for a misdemeanor for which he was never even arraigned and reporting a broken neck and paralysis,” Dowdell’s order states.

“After unhurried attempts at CPR, it was clear that Williams, who was lifeless and had blood coming from his mouth, was dead.”

An autopsy found that Williams died of complications from a broken neck and that he was also dehydrated.

Khan, an expert for the plaintiffs in the case, “has opined that the jail’s failure to stabilize William’s cervical spine resulted in a hematoma traveling up the spine, shutting down the spinal cord, which caused Williams’ respiratory muscles to stop working, thereby causing his death.”

The death would have been avoidable if Williams received adequate medical treatment, Khan states.

Asked in a deposition about Williams’ death, Washburn said he believed Williams received “appropriate care,” adding: “people just die sometimes.”

Washburn is currently a licensed physician in good standing, according to the state Medical Board, which states he works at a Sapulpa family medical clinic. Harnish’s practice is listed as the David L. Moss Detention Center his employer is listed as the jail’s current medical contractor, Armor, records show.

Neither Washburn nor Harnish have disciplinary actions on their record. It’s unclear whether the state Medical Board ever considered complaints against either doctor as a result of Williams’ case.

During a previous interview with Regalado, The Frontier asked if he had read the lawsuits against the sheriff’s office alleging civil rights violations for deaths and injuries in the jail. Regalado replied that he had not.

The Frontier has filed an Open Records Act lawsuit against Regalado after he refused to release jail video of an inmate, David Fulps, whose neck was broken in the jail

Staff made ‘dummy charts’

Dowdell’s order notes that in order to prevail, the plaintiffs must prove that the Sheriff’s Office was deliberately indifferent to the risk that Williams would receive inadequate medical care.

His order finds that Glanz had been placed on notice by three prior audits of the jail’s medical care: audits by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care in 2007 and 2010 and an audit in 2011 by the U.S. Immigrations, Customs and Enforcement agency.

All three audits found serious lapses in medical care of inmates at the jail, yet Glanz refused to replace the medical provider, Correctional Healthcare Companies Inc., and little changed in the way of policy and procedure, the order states.

Instead, Glanz and then-Undersheriff Tim Albin directed nurses and other jail personnel to hide inmate medical files that were considered problematic from the auditors. An employee of the jail’s medical provider, Pam Hoisington, also directed staff to create “dummy charts” for the auditors, the order states.

Regardless of the subterfuge, all three audits identified widespread failures by the jail to provide adequate medical care to inmates. Though Glanz received the audit reports, he took no action to address the findings.

“Mr. Glanz testified … that, with respect to such reports, he would ‘read the first two or three pages and then … file them.’”

horrible series of events.

**jhe90**

Horrible case.

US jails need big reforms.

**Mr. Burning**

You don't make a profit by providing medical care to those under your charge

Dreadful.

**Frazzled**

Holy crap. Everyone involved needs to be in a prison cell.

**Orlanth**

Frazzled wrote:
Holy crap. Everyone involved needs to be in that prison cell.

Fixed it for you.

**Frazzled**

Agreed.

**Herzlos**

Wait, someone complained of a broken neck, and was left for 4 days before someone thought they should check if he was actually paralyzed? Even though he hadn't moved or touched his food all that time? I can't even.

**Orlanth**

The whole thing beggars belief. The only reason not to see something is amiss is if you don't want to see that something is amiss.
I will add that separate staff are excluded from the above statement. If this was related to me as a story, I would not believe it. So an officer who thought Mr Williams was faking injury on day one would be excused for not inquiring whether this was the case later if not directly involved on subsequent days, as it doesn't make sense to assume someone would be left untended for so long.

Also this incident was in 2011. You have press freedom in the US, yet somehow this was a on story for four years. Someone tried to bury this good, yet never managed to make the footage disappear, which to me would be step one.

Also the suspect caused the injuries to himself by slamming his head against a door. Any evidence for this? Mr Williams was known for being mentally ill, but as it stands I would not take any correctional officers word at face value over this one.

**Herzlos**

I'd have assumed that any claim of injury is supposed to be investigated regardless of the cause?

I'm pretty sure here a doctor is meant to visit within a few hours, even if the inmate is clearly faking it.

**Prestor Jon**

Herzlos wrote:
I'd have assumed that any claim of injury is supposed to be investigated regardless of the cause?

I'm pretty sure here a doctor is meant to visit within a few hours, even if the inmate is clearly faking it.

He never should have been in the jail in the first place. Recently divorced man has a mental breakdown and causes a scene at the hotel he's staying at so police are called. Man having a mental breakdown is noncooperative with the police so they take him downtown to a holding cell. The man is still noncompliant so the police ship him off to a prison, no mention of any charges being filed or an arraignment being scheduled or if the man is guilty of anything other than being mentally ill. Man continues to exhibit poor mental health and is difficult for detention officers to deal with so they respond with physical force and injure the man and then ignore him since he's a problem. Man dies of his injuries and of neglect. No law enforcement officers even try to send the man to a mental institution where he could get help because that would involve a difficult time consuming process that might ultimately be futile. So instead they send him to prison even though he was never a criminal.

None of that excuses he depraved indifference of the correctional officers but there's no reason to throw a man in prison just because he's mentally ill. That's the first problem caused by the broken system.

**ZergSmasher**

If the man was mentally ill, he should have been put in a mental institution, in a padded cell if necessary if he proved to be a danger to himself. This man's treatment (or rather lack thereof) is just sickening. Someone in the DoC needs to be locked up over this one.

**Desubot**

Sweet Jesus. more reason never to go to jail or prison.

**d-usa**

Just another day in Oklahoma.

**Orlanth**

d-usa wrote:
Just another day in Oklahoma.

Is it?
In the 50's maybe, but today?

**OrlandotheTechnicoloured**

The reletives also have to take a slice of the blame as they knew he was having problem with his mental health and rather than taking him to hospital, or calling an ambulance they took him to a hotel

**Vaktathi**

Orlanth wrote:
d-usa wrote:
Just another day in Oklahoma.

Is it?
In the 50's maybe, but today?

Oklahoma is not the most...modern or dynamic of places

**BigWaaagh**

Orlanth wrote:
d-usa wrote:
Just another day in Oklahoma.

Is it?
In the 50's maybe, but today?

You got the 50's part right, the 1850's... Oklahoma is a God fearing state and after the "treatment" shown this poor soul, these individuals better fear God.

**Mr. Burning**

OrlandotheTechnicoloured wrote:
The reletives also have to take a slice of the blame as they knew he was having problem with his mental health and rather than taking him to hospital, or calling an ambulance they took him to a hotel

I'm pretty sure the burden lies pretty heavily on the family at this point. 'If only' is a hell of a weight to pull you down. I don't think they are to blame to be honest with how mental health is stigmatised in the US and how patients are treated.

**welshhoppo**

What the actual feth.

**feeder**

I think this is the natural result of the "criminals=scum" attitude.

Yes, some criminals are absolute scum ( the guards involved in this story, for example), but most are just people caught up in a gak situation.

**d-usa**

Orlanth wrote:
d-usa wrote:
Just another day in Oklahoma.

Is it?
In the 50's maybe, but today?

I've lived here since 1997, sadly it is.

**Mr. Burning**

feeder wrote:
I think this is the natural result of the "criminals=scum" attitude.

Yes, some criminals are absolute scum ( the guards involved in this story, for example), but most are just people caught up in a gak situation.

This guy wasn't even a criminal! (But got what many consider the best treatment for criminal scum. Prison shouldn't be so cushy! yada yada yada)

**feeder**

Mr. Burning wrote:
feeder wrote:
I think this is the natural result of the "criminals=scum" attitude.

Yes, some criminals are absolute scum ( the guards involved in this story, for example), but most are just people caught up in a gak situation.

This guy wasn't even a criminal! (But got what many consider the best treatment for criminal scum. Prison shouldn't be so cushy! yada yada yada)

Yeah, this poor guy got caught in the intersection of criminal activity and mental health. I assume he was taken in under "disturbing the peace" or some such.

I mean, we can't have people causing a violent scene whenever they are upset. But where the line is between acting unreasonably and acting under psychosis is tricky, and asking the first responders (usually cops) to make that call isn't fair. Where this gakstorm blew up is when they dog-piled him in the holding cell.

People that are already confined in a cell are no threat. Suspect is not cooperating? Time out until he does. Not use physical violence to force compliance.

**Ouze**

What a horrible story.

**godardc**

Broken neck ? How could he breathe ? I thought that if his neck was broken, his brain couldn't command to his lungs to breathe.

What am I missing here ?

**Laughing Man**

godardc wrote:
Broken neck ? How could he breathe ? I thought that if his neck was broken, his brain couldn't command to his lungs to breathe.

What am I missing here ?

Depends entirely where you break your neck. Above a certain point, you die. Below a certain point, you're paralyzed but otherwise mostly functional.

**Relapse**

This is as bad as the homeless man the cops beat to death as he pleaded for his father.

**nkelsch**

The issue is there has been a lot of exposed lies where the police falsified 'check-ins' and 'welfare checks' to say someone was ok when they were not. And there is an organizational cover-up when police/prison people take it too far.

They have confirmed Jail guards falsifying logs in the Sandra Bland case and had police willing to testify about perjury and malfeasance and the DA and police covered it up, got the incitement squashed and now it is too late.

They know they beat this guy and broke his neck... and they intentionally played ignorant and probably falsified all sorts of evidence to avoid responsibility. No one will be held responsible for this. Standard Operating procedure for police.

**Dreadwinter**

That whole article was a horror story. How could anybody do that to another person?

From the top down, licenses need to be revoked and prison time needs to be handed out like candy. Not a single person working there should be in charge of another human being, ever.

**Mr. Burning**

Dreadwinter wrote:
That whole article was a horror story. How could anybody do that to another person?

From the top down, licenses need to be revoked and prison time needs to be handed out like candy. Not a single person working there should be in charge of another human being, ever.

The PoPo and other law enforcement will not be sentenced to do jail time since they will probably be subject to violence and recrimination inside. They know this, their lawyers know this. This goes had in hand with a perception that criminals deserve what they get and must somewhat be responsible for what happens to them in the care of law enforcement and corrections.