Suit says Florida inmate swallowed pills to escape torment

Inmate Jerry Washington was in such fear of being beaten and sprayed with chemicals that he took an overdose of his own blood pressure medication to escape a “campaign of terror,’’ inflicted by officers at Santa Rosa Correctional Institution, a new lawsuit contends.

Over an extended period of time, officers at the Panhandle prison tormented Washington with racial slurs, threats of violence and sexual humiliation; they served him contaminated food and refused to allow him to get medical treatment, according to the lawsuit filed by his family against Julie Jones, secretary for the Florida Department of Corrections, as well as 12 officers at the prison.

Furthermore, Washington likely would not have died had officers not waited 11 hours to get him to the hospital, the lawsuit contends.

The suit claims that officers, who were angry that Washington had filed a sexual harassment complaint against them two weeks earlier, ignored his signs of suffering and medical distress, even after Washington told them he had taken an overdose.

Washington, formerly of Fort Lauderdale, took 42 tablets of diltiazem, a blood-pressure medication, on Sept. 16, 2013. Inmates at the prison told FDC investigators that Washington took the drugs in the hope that he would be transferred out of his dorm, where the officers had vowed to punish him and put him on their “gas list’’ — a reference to how they intended to spray him with chemicals, the suit alleges.

Washington’s family is also seeking damages from Corizon, the healthcare provider at the prison, as well as three Corizon nurses.

Though we cannot comment specifically on any of our patients’ medical histories or when there is active litigation, it is important to emphasize that the existence of a lawsuit is not necessarily indicative of quality of care or any wrongdoing,” said Martha Harbin, director of external relations for Corizon. “Our doctors and nurses work every day in extremely difficult settings to provide the best possible medical care for the approximately 100,000 inmate patients in our care.”

The FDC does not comment on pending litigation, spokesman McKinley Lewis said.

Just days before his death, Washington, 54, wrote a letter to relatives, telling them that he was being threatened by officers. He had called the state prison TIPS hotline and reported that officer Chad Pugh had ordered him to “give me your clothes, sweet cheeks,’’ during a routine strip search at the prison on Sept. 2. After Washington removed his clothes, Pugh then instructed Washington to turn around and back out of his cell, with his backside toward the officer. Pugh then proceeded to “grab and fondle’’ Washington’s buttocks, the suit said.

Pugh told Washington that the officers all “stick together’’ and if he reported what happened, he and other officers would plant something in his locker and write him up on a false disciplinary report, Washington told his family. Undeterred, Washington informed a sergeant, Marcus Stokes, about the incident, as well as other abuses allegedly perpetuated by Pugh and Santa Rosa officers, the suit said.

The next day, Pugh banged on Washington’s cell, telling him: “I hear you wrote me up for touching that soft ass, well they done told me about it and when I get back to work on Friday, I will gas your black ass,’’ the suit said.

Washington was in such fear of being beaten and sprayed that he took an overdose of his own medication, said the family attorney, Paul W. Rebein, of Tampa. The officers then ignored his pleas to go to the infirmary, he said.

“When your antagonizers decide whether you go to medical, it shouldn’t go that way,’’ Rebein said.

Several hours passed, as Washington grew increasingly ill. Finally at 9:20 p.m., Washington collapsed in his cell, telling officers who responded that he could not feel his legs.

Rather than calling 911, corrections officers took Washington to the prison infirmary, where a nurse gave him two bottles of charcoal solution. The nurses and officers took turns trying to keep Washington awake, according to his medical records, obtained by the family. His blood pressure was dangerously low — so low that when a prison EMS officer tried to insert an IV, he was unable to find a strong vein, the reports said.

At about 11:30 p.m. an ambulance arrived. Washington was rushed to Baptist Hospital in Pensacola, were he died the following morning. His autopsy concluded that he died of an overdose of diltiazem, with the medical examiner ruling the death a suicide.

“The majority of individuals who receive prompt treatment survive diltiazem overdose; however, death has been reported, especially in conjunction with other substances,’’ the toxicology report noted.

This story was originally published January 6, 2016 at 7:48 PM with the headline "Suit says Florida inmate swallowed pills to escape torment."