Man’s
Alcohol Withdrawal Death In Jail Could Have Been Avoided, Family Says
By Dr.Fourkan Ali
Phillip
Ross Board died after spending one day in jail and his family believes it's due
to alcohol withdrawal.
The death of a West Virginia jail inmate could have been
prevented, his family says. Phillip Ross Board had struggled with alcoholism
for years, and when he was placed in South Central Regional Jail in Charleston,
he eventually died of symptoms of alcohol withdrawal, the family’s lawyer Jesse
Forbes toldthe Charleston
Gazette-Mail.
So far no lawsuit has been filed, but Forbes says the family is
seeking an explanation for Board’s untimely death. They want to know if the
jail screened him for substance abuse, and if they did, was he treated for it?
It all began when police saw Board allegedly staggering,
intoxicated, while walking down the street with his 9-year-old son in Dunbar. A
week later, he was charged with child neglect creating risk of injury.
According to a criminal complaint, his blood alcohol content was .462 at the
time. He was jailed on April 4 and died the next day.
The only explanation that a spokesperson for the Department of
Military Affairs and Public Safety would provide to the Gazette-Mail is that Board suffered a “medical episode” in
his cell and that staff provided “assistance” until he was transported to the
hospital, where he died.
Jails should be better equipped to deal with inmates who require
medical attention for a substance use disorder, Board's family says. According
to a 2010 report by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, 1.5
million inmates of the total 2.3 million inmates locked up in U.S. correctional
facilities met this criteria.
The National Commission on Correctional Health Care, an
organization dedicated to improving the quality of health care in correctional
facilities, says all jails shouldroutinely screen inmates for substance use disorders and withdrawal.
In June 2014, David Stojcevski of Michigan died in Macomb County
Jail, where he was serving a 30-day sentence for failing to pay $772 in traffic
tickets. He suffered 17 days of benzodiazepine withdrawal and lost 50 pounds
before he died. The case prompted the FBI and the American Civil Liberties
Union (ACLU) to get involved.
In May 2015, Tyler Tabor of Colorado asked jail staff for
intravenous (IV) therapy to manage his heroin
withdrawal symptoms, but they told him an IV wasn’t available “unless it’s
absolutely necessary.” Just days after arriving at the Adams County Sheriff’s
Detention Facility in Brighton, he died. The official cause of death:
dehydration due to withdrawal from a controlled substance (heroin).
Sources - The Fix
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