An inmate was in pain but medical staff thought he was fine, officials say. He died the next day.

By Scott Daugherty | The virginian-pilot | February 02, 2018 11:03 AM

The day before he died in the Hampton Roads Regional Jail, William Otis Thrower Sr. knew he needed help.

In an emergency grievance form filed with his jailers, the 69-year-old inmate said he’d been unable to sleep for four days and “as of right now I have been unable to take a (expletive)!,” according to court documents. “I am in real bad pain!”

The jail’s response, the documents said, included only a short note directing him to request a routine medical appointment – and an admonishment.

“You do not use profanity on documents,” the note instructed. “Resubmit as a sick call.”

A jail official said the grievance led a medical staff member to see and treat Thrower, though. She thought he would be fine.

Thrower’s estate filed a lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Norfolk. It names more than two dozen defendants, including the Hampton Roads Regional Jail Authority and Correct Care Solutions, the jail’s medical provider.

The suit alleges negligence, deprivation of rights and wrongful death, among other things, and asks for $13.85 million in damages.

“You would think that an organization like this, that was experiencing death after death, would make some real changes,” said Mark Krudys, an attorney for the Thrower estate who is also suing the regional jail authority over two other inmate deaths.

Assistant Superintendent Linda Bryant said jail officials have made changes. She noted the jail changed leadership about six months after Thrower died, resulting in the hiring of her and Superintendent Ronaldo Myers. She added that the jail did away with the emergency grievance forms, so inmates no longer have to complete paperwork when they are sick or injured.

“If they are having an emergency, they just need to call out for help, and an officer will contact medical staff,” Bryant said.

A spokesperson for the jail’s medical provider declined to comment.

The other two lawsuits against the jail filed by Krudys involve the August 2015 death of 24-year-old Jamycheal Mitchell and the August 2016 death of 60-year-old Henry Stewart. Mitchell, who had severe mental illness, died while awaiting transfer to a state mental hospital. Stewart died two days after filing a grievance with the jail regarding his lack of access to medical care.

Thrower died March 20, 2016. The lawsuit says he tried to request medical assistance three times in 27 hours – including once less than two hours before his death. The cause of death, according to a state medical examiner, was “acute gallstone pancreatitis with hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease contributing.”

Four months earlier, in November 2015, Thrower was transferred to the regional jail from the Portsmouth City Jail. He had been arrested on a charge of failing to appear in court on a probation violation. Thrower was eventually convicted of the violation and sentenced to a year in jail, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit says Thrower repeatedly requested medical assistance while at the regional jail – both verbally and in writing.

In his first handwritten emergency grievance form on Feb. 7, he said he was having “very sharp stomach pains” and trouble eating and sleeping. He said he had been awake for three days. Emergency grievance forms are not intended for medical issues but, the lawsuit says, sick inmates sometimes resort to them because they believe other attempts at getting help will fail.

The form, which was released to Thrower’s family with his belongings after his death, showed the grievance was determined not to be an emergency, the lawsuit says. He was directed to request a sick call.

Thrower submitted his second emergency grievance on March 19, 2016 – the day before his death. The form, in which Thrower used the expletive, shows the request was made at 1:30 p.m. and denied 24 minutes later by a correctional officer who found no emergency, the lawsuit says.

Bryant disputed that the request was denied. She said the grievance was forwarded to a sergeant, who in turn took it to a medical staff member, who saw Thrower and provided him unspecified “assistance.” Bryant cited jail records and a conversation she had Thursday with the sergeant, who recalled seeing the medical staff member crying after Thrower’s death because she had thought he was OK.

The lawsuit says Thrower handwrote a “Healthcare Request” form shortly after after his grievance was denied and omitted the profanity.

“Can’t Pass my Bowels it’s been four days. I am in Real Bad pain,” it read, according to the lawsuit.

But it is unclear what happened to that request, or whether it was submitted. The lawsuit says the rest of the form was blank.

Regardless, Thrower tried again via a computer kiosk in the jail the afternoon of his death. Saying he had now not had a “bowel movement in five days,” he asked to see a doctor as soon as possible.

“I really need something so I can pass it through,” he wrote.

It is unclear who, if anyone, reviewed that request. Less than two hours later, Thrower collapsed while sitting on the toilet in his cell, the lawsuit says. When he was found, he had no pulse and was not breathing.

The lawsuit makes broad allegations against the jail and includes details about Mitchell’s and Stewart’s deaths, along with at least six others. And the changes Bryant referenced came too late to help Thrower, according to the lawsuit.

The complaint notes he died about seven months after Mitchell and less than four months after Correct Care Solutions took over the jail’s medical services. It says two state agencies and multiple media outlets were investigating Mitchell’s death by the time Thrower died. It also references other lawsuits filed by current and former inmates, many of whom allege they were mistreated at the jail despite filing repeated grievances.

The lawsuit says staff should already have known by March 2016 “about the disastrous system at the HRRJ for requesting medical care, including that inmates/detainees had to resort to emergency grievances to try to access proper care in the first place.”

Scott Daugherty, 757-446-2343, scott.daugherty@pilotonline.com

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