America's Jails by Derek Jeffreys

Author:Derek Jeffreys
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SOC004000 Social Science / Criminology
Publisher: New York University Press

The Deadly Consequences of Contempt

In many cases in U.S. jails, contempt yields deadly consequences. Let me offer three examples, two from Rikers Island and one from a smaller jail. In 2013 Bradley Ballard arrived at Rikers Island. He suffered from diabetes and schizophrenia, and apparently made a lewd gesture at a staff member. He was put in a cell and ignored. Ballard received no insulin or medication of any kind, and he covered himself with feces. Days passed, and dozens of staff members went by his cell without entering it. A nurse came in only once to give Ballard medicine. Occasionally, people peered into his cell through a window, and corrections officers passed food through a slot in the door. No one entered it. Finally, after seven days someone noticed that Ballard was on the floor and unresponsive, and opened his cell door. Balland had tied a rubber band around his penis, and it had become infected. He died shortly after being taken out of his cell. In this case, we see an appalling contempt where staff members paid no attention to a sick person who desperately needed help. Disgust at his behavior and condition produced a cold contempt, a sense that he was a creature unworthy of minimal attention.16

In a second case at Rikers in 2014, Jerome Murdough, a Marine Corps veteran suffering from schizophrenia, was arrested for trespassing after he sought shelter in a stairwell during the winter. While at Rikers, he was placed in an observation cell. However, corrections officers left him in it overnight without checking on him. The temperature of the cell rose to over 101 degrees Fahrenheit. Authorities discovered Murdough’s dead body the next morning, and his body temperature had reached 103 degrees Fahrenheit. He had baked to death in his cell while corrections officers ignored him completely. Those working the night shift revealed their contempt by abandoning a person with a history of mental health problems. The Department of Corrections expressed further contempt by failing to promptly notify Murdough’s family of his death. Family members learned of it from an Associated Press reporter. A corrections officer was later arrested, and charged with falsifying documents about the episode. The family sued the City of New York, and settled the case before it went to trial.17

In a final example of contempt for inmates, in 2015 Jesse Jacobs entered the Galveston County Jail to serve a thirty-day sentence for DUI (driving under the influence). He carried a letter from his doctor indicating that he took antianxiety medication, and shouldn’t go off it because he might suffer from seizures. However, apparently, the Galveston County Sheriff encouraged jail staff to detox inmates, and they refused to provide Jacobs with his medication. Consequently, after four days he had a seizure, but staff members didn’t take him to the hospital. After a second seizure, he was placed under suicide watch in another cell, but he still didn’t see a doctor. It was only after his third seizure that a doctor arrived, but rather than providing him with proper medication, she prescribed a new drug.

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