An inmate who reportedly had been denied medical care lay dead in her Nevada jail cell for several hours before officials arrived to investigate, and details of the incident have come to light in a report compiled by state officials.
Kelly Coltrain, 27, was booked into the Mineral County Jail for unpaid traffic fines in July 2017 and at the time informed Sgt. Jim Holland that she was dependent on drugs and that she experienced severe seizures when she was withdrawing, The Reno Gazette Journal noted.
It is jail policy to have inmates with a history of seizures be cleared by a doctor but this was not adhered to in Coltrain's case, according to the report.
Jail staff allegedly did not monitor her vital signs as she underwent withdrawals, as is protocol, and her requests to go to a hospital were reportedly ignored.
As her condition worsened, Coltrain was allegedly handed a mop and told to clean up her mess.
She died in her cell and, although her cell was video-monitored, deputies did not notice that she had not moved in six hours, The Reno Gazette Journal reported.
A deputy entered her cell and was unable to wake her, but he did not call for medical assistance or attempt to resuscitate her, according to the report.
The investigation found that multiple policies had been violated and investigators requested that the Mineral County District Attorney consider criminal charges as evidence suggested the Mineral County Sheriff's Office may have violated state laws which prohibited inhumane treatment of prisoners while also using one's official authority for oppression, The Reno Gazette Journal said.
The investigation was forwarded to Lyon County District Attorney Stephen Rye, who said there did not appear to be "any willful or malicious acts by jail staff that would justify the filing of charges under the requirements of the statute," the newspaper said.
On Wednesday, Coltrain's mother, father and grandmother filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
Roughly 4,400 inmates die behind bars each year, with most deaths being health related, SBS reported.
The U.S. no independent authority to monitor prison conditions, The American Civil Liberties Union reported.
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