SubscribePolice are reviewing their policies after the arrest.I'm going to be that there is more to this story. Just like the Fugees one.
The jail nurse, said the mother and the victim's attorney, denied the medication for religious reasons.
Hillsborough County sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter could not comment about that allegation or anything else about the woman's medical situation because of the federal health information privacy act. However, she said all medications are confiscated from inmates upon their arrival until they are verified.
Police supervisors did not learn the woman's circumstances until early Monday, after inquiries from the media and the woman's attorney, Virlyn "Vic" Moore III of Venice. At that point, police worked with Circuit Judge Walter Heinrich to grant her bail: $4,585 that a Sarasota County court said was unpaid in a 2003 auto theft and burglary case, McElroy said.
Jail records show that the woman was booked into Orient Road Jail on Saturday for "failure to appear" on two felony warrants: grand theft auto and burglary. In fact, McElroy said, the "failure to appear" was recorded because of the alleged nonpayment.
Unsure of how to proceed, police drove the woman to a gas station at Howard Avenue and Kennedy Boulevard to consult with an acting sergeant, who determined the woman should be arrested, McElroy said.
The woman's mother said she received a phone call about 9 p.m. Saturday from a female officer saying her daughter "was raped today at 2, but her name came up on a bulletin and I have to take her to jail."
In her opinion, the mother said, "The rape investigation has come to a screeching halt."
McElroy disagreed, saying that officers referred their report to the detective division. A detective tried to find potential witnesses Sunday but was unsuccessful, she said. The detective did not try to speak to the woman in jail Sunday because there were no "time-sensitive leads," McElroy said.
"...Tampa police are investigating why more compassion wasn't shown toward the woman after she reported her sexual assault to law enforcement.A failure of a flawed system and the lack of compassion on the part of a few, further compounded by the alleged insensitivty (and possibly illegal action) of a religious zealot.
'We may need to revisit our policy,' police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said.
...'As soon as the chief's office found out about it Monday, detectives were assigned to get her out of jail,' McElroy said. 'Obviously, we're very concerned about this young woman.'
Jail records show the woman was booked about eight hours after the reported rape."*
"She reported the rape Saturday afternoon, and officers took her to a rape crisis center where she was given the first of two doses of the morning-after pill, [police spokesperson] McElroy said. The second dose is supposed to be taken within 24 hours." *BTW -- she is a pre-med student and I suspect requested the treatment.
"Tampa Police Chief Steve Hogue said in a statement that he was revising the department's arrest policies to give supervisors more discretion in similar situations.
'When I learned that the victim of a sexual battery was arrested on an outstanding warrant, I was very concerned that our policy did not allow a greater degree of discretionary latitude,' Hogue said.
"A Hillsborough Sheriff's official confirms a nurse at the jail is accused of refusing to give the woman the 'morning after' pill she was prescribed after the incident.
The nurse claims it was because of religious beliefs.
The Sheriff's office issued a statement today saying it was investigating the claim.
The woman involved spent the day talking to rape crises counselors."
"The victim also claimed she was not given the morning after pill because of a jail employee's religious concerns. The employee said she is not allowed to give medication without direct orders. The employee has been placed on administrative leave."
"MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of Armor Correctional Health Services is to deliver health care that will be regarded as the standard for correctional facilities nationwide while continually advancing innovative health care practices.
VISION STATEMENT
The vision of Armor Correctional Health Services is to provide a clinically-driven model of quality health services to patients in correctional facilities utilizing health care professionals committed to providing innovative, outcome-based practices in a cost effective manner. Armor will treat all patients with respect and dignity and will work to achieve client satisfaction in all areas of service. A high priority is placed on effectively managing its organizational resources to achieve excellence in services, clinical outcomes and financial performance.
CORE VALUES
Exceptional Service to our Patients
Accountability for Positive Outcomes
Value to our Employee Family & Develop Professional Leadership
Builds Collaborative Teams Including Community Linkage
Foster an Innovative Environment"
There is no claim for medical malpractice for prisoner's as wards of the state. There is only a claim under 42 USC 1983 for deprivation of civil rights. In order to prove that claim, a prisoner must show that the governmental official acted or failed to act with subjective deliberate indifference to her serious medical needs.(didja submit your brief with the grocer's plural, dios?)
We therefore conclude that deliberate indifference to serious medical needs of prisoners constitutes the “unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain,” Gregg v. Georgia, supra, at 173, 96 S.Ct. at 2925 (joint opinion), proscribed by the Eighth Amendment. This is true whether the indifference is manifested by prison doctors in their response to the prisoner's needs FN10 or by prison guards in intentionally denying or delaying access to medical *105 care FN11 or intentionally interfering with the treatment once prescribed.FN12 Regardless of how evidenced, deliberate indifference to a prisoner's serious illness or injury states a cause of action under s 1983. Estelle, 429 US at 104-105.The more important points here are a) whether this is a serious medical need and b) damages. But consider this-- it was a serious enough need to require a prescribed treatment, which then was intentionally interfered with. I would suspect most courts would side with the plaintiff on that point. And it may not matter whether she got pregnant or not-- the fear and anxiety caused by a potential pregnancy may itself be actionable.
Eva Buzek, a flight attendant and Minneapolis resident, said she was recently refused service by five taxi drivers when she was carrying wine as she returned from a trip to France.It would be really great if one of those Christian pharmacists who refuses to fill birth control pill prescriptions would be refused taxi service because he is toting a six-pack.
But Hassan Mohamud, imam at Al-Taqwa Mosque of St. Paul and director of the Islamic Law Institute at the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, one of the largest Islamic organizations in the state, said asking Muslims to transport alcohol "is a violation of their faith. Muslims do not consume, carry, sell or buy alcohol, and Islam also considers the saliva of dogs to be unclean, he said.
What was the legal "status" of the alleged victim while she was in the jail for two-days?
She was being held on an old warrant, accusing her of failing to pay restitution for a 2003 theft arrest. She claims that restitution was paid. No hearing, court-case or finding had been established at the time of her incarceration, as to whether her claim was/is true or not. I suspect that that is the next step in the process.
So, was she classified as a "prisoner," or is there some other status for someone who is "being held" until a resolution of the outstanding warrant has happened? Or, is everyone behind bars considered a "prisoner," no matter what?
If there is a material difference in status (between being held and being sentenced), does the 'Prison Litigation Reform Act' -- and similar rules/laws -- apply only to convicted and sentenced prisoners? Or does it apply to everyone/anyone who is held in a jail (prior, during or after conviction)?
It has been correctly observed that the impact doctrine "has been thoroughly repudiated by the English courts which initiated it, rejected by a majority of American jurisdictions, abandoned by many which originally adopted it, and diluted, through numerous exceptions, in the minority which retained it."[FN1][**norm's note, the quote comes from Battalla v. State, 10 N.Y.2d 237, 219 N.Y.S.2d 34, 176 N.E.2d 729 (1961). This was a case which involved both physical and mental injuries, but the physical injuries happened as a result of the mental distress.**]
The current trend is to allow recovery for the consequences of fright negligently inflicted, notwithstanding the absence of contemporaneous physical contact.[FN2] Courts have held in favor of recovery for negligently induced emotional distress without impact.[FN3](32:17). Here are some case cites from the third footnote alluded to above.
October 14, 2005 Tampa TribuneYeah, the story keeps getting better and better.
A new company took over medical care this month for Hillsborough County's jail inmates after Sheriff David Gee solicited new bids rather than renew a contract with the previous provider. Armor Correctional Health Services Inc. assumed control of the jail's two 50-bed infirmaries on Oct. 1, replacing Prison Health Services. The contract will cost taxpayers $19,888,000 in its first 12 months and total more than $60 million over the course of the three-year agreement, Col. David Parrish said. PHS served Hillsborough jails for for the last three years and for seven years during the 1980s. The company came under fire and was the target of a federal lawsuit by former Hillsborough inmate Kimberly Grey earlier this year after she gave birth in a jail toilet after complaining for hours she felt ill. Her infant son died en route to the hospital. Parrish said one of the motivating factors that prompted the sheriff to open up the contract to bidding rather than to renew with PHS was the bad publicity that the jail received because of the Grey case. Armor is based in Broward County, where it holds a five- year contract with that county's five-jail system. Armor's chief executive officer, Doyle Moore, founded PHS in 1978 and stayed with the firm in various leadership positions until 2004. Four other key officers also worked for PHS.
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posted by JeremiahBritt at 12:41 PM on January 30, 2007 [2 favorites]