THE EDITOR'S BOX





Saturday, June 1, 2013

GTV NEWS: FAMILY SUES KENT COUNTY CORRECTIONAL FACILITY


Kent County is getting sued two years after an inmate died in their jail.
The family of Stephen Stiles says he's dead because the jail didn't give him his medication.

"I was 7 or 8 months pregnant when I got the call," said Stephen's oldest daughter who didn't want to be identified.

She says she'll never forget the day she learned her dad died.

Stephen Stiles was taken into the Kent County jail for failing to pay child support around 4:20a.m. on May 31, 2011.
Target 8 uncovered never-before-seen details about what happened. Just after 5:00 a.m., Stiles called his sister and then again at 2 p.m. that afternoon.

During the conversation she asked, "Do they know about your seizures and stuff?"  "Yeah," he replied.

That was the last time she would talk to him. Six hours later he was found dead in his cell.

A report by the Kent County Sheriff Department shows Stiles did tell staff about his seizures and medication at intake.

The report shows the following:
10:42 a.m. - The jail made a call to verify the prescription
6:45 p.m. - A doctor confirmed it.
8:00 p.m. - Stephen was put on the Meds list
8:11 p.m. - The medical cart was on his floor

A video shows deputies calling Stephen several times to get his meds, but he never answered. He was found dead in his cell at 8:18 p.m.

The medical examiner determined he died from a seizure.

The lawsuit claims Kent County and or/ Kent County Sheriff's office failed to implement policies and procedures such as regularly checking on inmates and having treatment begin immediately and/or as soon as reasonably possible.

"I feel like it was heartless," said his daughter. "I don't know how anyone can do that to another human being."

A report by the Sheriff's Office also shows that they had the medicine in stock at the jail. We did reach out to the jail to see if they have changed any policies or procedures.They declined to comment because of the open lawsuit.

No comments:

Post a Comment