Jail’s ‘atmosphere of lawlessness’ led to inmate’s death, lawsuit claims
A wrongful death lawsuit claims “an atmosphere of lawlessness” at the Clark County Detention Center, fueled by the staff’s “reckless ‘wait and see’ approach to serious medical conditions,” led to a preventable in-custody death in November 2018.
The lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in Clark County District Court on behalf of the family of Hiser Marion Johnston III, names the Metropolitan Police Department, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo and NaphCare, a private correctional health care provider previously contracted by the department. Wellpath now provides health care to the inmates at the downtown jail.
“Sheriff Joe Lombardo, Metro, CCDC, and NaphCare have failed to adequately train their officers or employees as to when to provide inmates access to medication or medical care in such a way that amounts to deliberate indifference to the serious medical needs of inmates,” according to the lawsuit, which also claims that the defendants knowingly “failed to enforce the laws of the State of Nevada and the regulations of CCDC pertaining to the handling of prisoners who are in need of medical attention, thereby creating within the CCDC an atmosphere of lawlessness.”
Johnston, a 45-year-old Las Vegas resident, was booked into the jail on Nov. 10, 2018, on a contempt of court charge.
According to the lawsuit, jail staff had learned during a routine medical screening that Johnston required “timely and regular administration of medication” for hypertension and dyslipidemia, described by the Mayo Clinic as an abnormal level of cholesterol and other fats in the blood that increases the risk of clogged arteries, heart attack or stroke.
Yet for several days, the lawsuit claims, staff members ignored the inmate’s requests for medication and his complaints of chest pain, and nine days after arriving at the jail, Johnston “suffered cardiopulmonary arrest” inside his jail cell. He died of “hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease” in the emergency room of North Vista Hospital, according to the Clark County coroner’s office.
“Sheriff Joe Lombardo, Metro, CCDC, and NaphCare train and supervise CCDC officers and staff to adopt a reckless ‘wait and see’ approach to serious medical conditions, and not to immediately have inmates with symptoms indicating serious conditions timely evaluated by higher-level providers,” according to the lawsuit.
Citing pending litigation, Metro declined to comment on the lawsuit. NaphCare also declined to comment, saying only that it had “not received notification of any pending litigation.”
The 17-page lawsuit is seeking upward of $45,000 in damages for Johnston’s family, including his wife, Kathy Prestwich.
Reached by phone on Wednesday, Prestwich, a Utah resident, declined to comment. Clark County marriage records show that she and Johnston married in December 1997.
According to the lawsuit, Johnston’s family members have been deprived of his “love, comfort, companionship, financial support, emotional support.”
Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.