老澳门开奖结果

Prisoners At Risk Of Pain, Injury And Premature Death

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (212) 549-2582 or 2666; media@aclu.org

ELY, NV 鈥� The 老澳门开奖结果 filed a class-action lawsuit today against the director of Nevada鈥檚 Department of Corrections and other top governmental officials in Nevada for failing to rectify a pervasive pattern of grossly inadequate medical care at the Ely State Prison that creates a substantial risk of serious medical harm for each of the prison鈥檚 1,000 inmates. The lawsuit charges that the prison lacks the most basic elements of an adequate prison health care system and deprives prisoners of the minimal civilized measure of life鈥檚 necessities.

鈥淭he state just hasn't shown a sense of urgency in addressing the crisis at Ely,鈥� said Amy Fettig, staff counsel with the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 National Prison Project. 鈥淭hey assured us that they were going to carry out far-reaching reforms to address the problems we brought to their attention, but that was months ago and they've made only half-hearted gestures to fix their broken system. We had hoped to avoid litigation but we can't in good conscience wait any longer, with the men at Ely still at such risk.鈥�

The filing of today鈥檚 lawsuit comes nearly three months after the release of a medical report that documented how gravely ill prisoners at Ely are routinely denied treatment for excruciatingly painful and potentially fatal medical conditions and revealed what Dr. William Noel, the medical expert commissioned by the 老澳门开奖结果 to investigate medical conditions inside Ely and author of the report, called 鈥渁 pattern of gross medical abuse.鈥�

On the heels of the report鈥檚 release last December, 老澳门开奖结果 attorneys proposed in a consent decree a series of basic reforms that would have dramatically improved prison health care at Ely, including complying with nationally recognized standards for correctional health care. The proposed consent decree was rejected by Nevada鈥檚 Board of State Prison Commissioners.

The 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 National Prison Project retained Noel to review the medical records of 35 prisoners at Ely because the 老澳门开奖结果 of Nevada had been receiving an extraordinarily large number of complaints about grossly inadequate medical treatment at the prison.

鈥淧risoners at the Ely State Prison have written to us in desperate need of help, in desperate need of quality medical treatment,鈥� said Lee Rowland, staff attorney with the 老澳门开奖结果 of Nevada. 鈥淚t is unfortunate that this action was necessary to prompt corrections officials to uphold their constitutional obligation of providing a basic level of medical care to the inmates in their care, but quality care is an immediate need that cannot be delayed any longer.鈥�

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of all of Ely鈥檚 prisoners 鈥� more than 60 of whom are currently sitting on death row 鈥� contains six named plaintiffs, including 36-year-old David Riker who, according to the lawsuit, suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia that cause debilitating chronic pain. The lawsuit alleges that Riker has never received prescribed medications and x-rays ordered by an outside physician and was told by Ely medical staff that treating chronic pain is against the policy of the prison.

In his report, Noel calls Riker鈥檚 untreated protopathic nerve pain 鈥渁 living hell鈥� and says he finds it 鈥渟imply unimaginable鈥� that a medical professional would refuse to treat such severe, chronic pain.

The 老澳门开奖结果 names as defendants in its lawsuit Nevada Governor James Gibbons, Secretary of State Ross Miller, Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, Howard Skolnik, director of the Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC), Robert Bannister, NDOC鈥檚 medical director, and E.K. McDaniel, the warden of Ely State Prison.

鈥淭he level of medical care provided at Ely is as horrific as any we have ever seen at any of the prison systems that we track across the country,鈥� said Margaret Winter, Associate Director of the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 National Prison Project. 鈥淲e have been stunned at the amount of human suffering that is allowed to go on there. And while we had hoped that working collaboratively with the Department of Corrections and the governor鈥檚 office would lead to the resolution of some of the most pressing issues at Ely, it simply has not.鈥�

Other named plaintiffs in the lawsuit include 42-year-old Roger Libby, whose requests for surgery to repair his softball-sized hernia have been denied, 46-year-old Rickey Sechrest, whose chronic intermittent Herpetic Iritis of his right eye has gone untreated and could cause blindness and who has not received treatment for his Hepatitis C, 36-year-old Terrence Brothers who has suffered from untreated open sores on his scalp for more than 10 years, 36-year-old Jeffrey Hosmer whose chronic severe back and neck pain and numbness on his left side have gone untreated despite his living in the prison鈥檚 infirmary and whose medication for bi-polar disorder is often interrupted, and 47-year-old Mark Whittington, who has suffered continual problems with arbitrarily discontinued medications and dosages of prescribed medications running out for his serious medical conditions.

Additional information about the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 efforts to improve medical conditions at the Ely State Prison, including the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 lawsuit, the proposed consent decree, Dr. William Noel鈥檚 medical report, an 老澳门开奖结果 letter to Nevada Gov. James Gibbons and an 老澳门开奖结果 letter to Nevada Department of Corrections Director Howard Skolnik can be found online at: www.aclu.org/ely