The Prison Project
The Center for Justice’s Prison Project aims to change the prison system to ensure inmates receive constitutionally adequate mental and physical health care. Below are excerpts from stories about two of the important cases we’ve been involved in recently.
Without a Leg to Stand On (September 8, 2008)
“The first problem was that Moses Lake police didn’t have a warrant to seize the artificial leg. CFJ lawyers argued that the seizure violated Fourth Amendment prohibitions against unreasonable searches and seizures.
The second big problem is the one that Rodney Marchand experienced for several months as he tried to navigate the close quarters of the Grant County jail without his missing leg. He suffered back injuries in falls, and in November 2003 badly injured his head and shoulders when his crutches slipped on a floor wet with mop water.
He was eventually given a wheelchair in the jail, but injuries from his falls and allegedly inadequate medical treatment at the jail made it impossible for him to propel himself in the chair without being in”significant pain.” He began to favor his non-amputated leg and injured it as a result. Moreover, by the time his leg was returned to him “dramatic changes had occurred in his stump and the prosthesis no longer fit.”
It wasn’t until after Marchand was transferred to the Airway Heights Correction Center in late 2004 that he was fitted with a new prosthesis and began receiving the physical therapy for the injuries he sustained in the Grant County Jail.
In addition to the charges that the illegal search and seizure of Marchand’s artificial leg violated the Fourth Amendment, the federal civil suit filed against Moses Lake and Grant County alleged that Marchand’s constitutional rights were violated by denying him adequate medical care while he was in jail. The suit further alleged his treatment violated state law against discrimination and resulted in common law medical negligence.
In addition to the charges that the illegal search and seizure of Rodney Marchand’s artificial leg violated the Fourth Amendment, the federal civil suit filed against Moses Lake and Grant County alleged that Marchand’s constitutional rights were violated by denying him adequate medical care while he was in jail. The suit further alleged his treatment violated state law against discrimination and resulted in common law medical negligence.”
A Day of Redemption for the late Tyler Shaw (December 16, 2009)
“Under terms of the two offers of judgment, Asotin County will pay the family $120,000 plus costs and attorney fees. Clarkston will pay the family $30,000.
“When we filed this suit we were seeking millions of dollars for the loss of our son and planned to use the money to work for reforms in the Asotin County system,” says Laurette Shaw, Tyler’s mother. “We also wanted to send a signal to the defendants that we were serious. Our first objective was for them to accept responsibility for what happened to Tyler, and now that they’ve accepted responsibility it’s up to us and others in our community to insist upon the reforms needed to make sure this never
happens again.”
Says Center for Justice attorney Breean Beggs: “On November 10th, Asotin County’s former sheriff Wayne Weber, ten of the county’s jail personnel and the jail physician, Dr. Dennis Mountjoy reversed three years of denial and offered to admit their unequivocal responsibility for the death of Tyler Shaw. They used a rare procedural move called a ‘FRCP 68 Offer of Judgment.’ This Offer of Judgment admits the truth of the plaintiff’s allegations, as described in the complaint, in exchange for an end to the case at a sum certain. On Thursday, December 11th, the City of Clarkston submitted a similar offer of judgment that the family has now accepted. This now means both jurisdictions acknowledge culpability for Tyler’s tragic death and brings an end to the litigation.”
Both Beggs and the Shaw family say they’re dismayed by earlier press accounts in which named Asotin County officials, while disclosing that an agreement to end the case was near, continued to make assertions indicating County officers were not to blame for Tyler Shaw’s death. This was especially hurtful to the Shaws who, in the days following Tyler’s death, endured public statements from Asotin officials suggesting their son had killed himself.
With the offers of judgment from Asotin and Clarkston, said Tyler’s older sister Tami Meyers, “they are finally taking responsibility and not blaming my brother.”