“H-E-L-P me please”: Family of inmate who died files lawsuit against Norfolk and regional jails

By Gordon rago | Staff writer | July 17, 2019 2:02 PM

Sick and begging for help, Regina Marie Honeycutt’s fellow inmates at Norfolk’s city jail saw her in obvious discomfort and throwing up blood.

But the jail’s deputies and medical staff disregarded her pleas for help, according to a newly-filed federal lawsuit.

Including this one: “It has been 3 days and I can’t go #2 I’ve been drinking water. I even had some (Metamucil) stuff and drank alot of water. I can’t go #2. Please help I think it’s the food this is Not normal for me H-E-L-P me Please.”

Metamucil is a fiber supplement used to treat constipation.

Almost 10 days later — two days after she had been transferred to Hampton Roads Regional Jail — Honeycutt was pronounced dead at Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center, where she was rushed after suffering a medical emergency, the jail said at the time.

Doctors determined her death on Oct. 7 was the cause of “inflammation of the lining of her abdominal cavity resulting from a rupture to the bowel and subsequent infection from leakage,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed July 14 by Honeycutt’s father, Timothy Scott Caramillo. A CT scan revealed she had a cancerous mass in her colon that caused a hole in her bowel and “free fluid had emptied into her abdomen.”

The mass was “very treatable,” the lawsuit states.

For at least two weeks before she died, Honeycutt had repeatedly sought help for abdominal pain, the lawsuit states. Jail medical staff were aware of her pain and prescribed her medication to help with some of the issues she was having.

The scathing 103-page document names medical staff and deputies at Norfolk’s city jail as defendants as well as staff at the regional jail where she was transferred in early October. Among other allegations, the suit describes medical staff witnessing her distress but ignoring it and, while at the regional jail, ordering tests for blood work rather than sending her to a hospital for acute symptoms.

“Ms. Honeycutt simply languished under the care and control of correctional officers in general population,” the lawsuit says in describing her care at the regional jail.

Reached Wednesday, David Hackworth, the jail’s superintendent, declined to comment, saying the jail hadn’t yet been served with the lawsuit. A spokeswoman with the Norfolk Sheriff’s Office also declined comment for the same reason.

The lawsuit goes beyond alleging her caretakers were negligent; it says Norfolk jail deputies disciplined her during her efforts to get help.

The 32-year-old was serving a three-year sentence for a probation violation.

Her death came while the jail was still under intense scrutiny from the U.S. Justice Department’s civil rights division. The investigation into the jail followed a series of questionable, high-profile inmate deaths there.

“No one was addressing her acute, emergent condition,” said Mark Krudys, the attorney who worked with Honeycutt’s father on the lawsuit.

Inmates who were in close quarters with Honeycutt noticed she was bleeding from the anus area. She had previously complained of hemorrhoids, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit repeatedly claims negligence on the part of those who were responsible for her care.

“Had the defendants timely and properly intervened, Ms. Honeycutt would not have died,” it reads.

Gordon Rago, 757-446-2601, gordon.rago@pilotonline.com

See Original Article Here.