ACLU Sues Nevada DOC Over Inmate Care
RENO, Nev. — The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against Gov. Jim Gibbons and the Department of Corrections, alleging lapses in prison medical care.
The class-action lawsuit filed with the U.S. District Court here alleges a “pervasive pattern of grossly inadequate medical care” at the 969-bed maximum-security state prison in Ely. The facility’s healthcare system lacks the most basic elements and subjects inmates to a “significant risk of serious injury, medical harm and premature death,” according to the lawsuit.
“The state hasn’t shown a sense of urgency in addressing the crisis at Ely,” says Amy Fettig, staff counsel with the ACLU’s National Prison Project. “They assured us that they were going to carry out far-reaching reforms to address the problems we brought to their attention.”
On March 5, DOC Director Howard Skolnik proposed to the ACLU that the Nevada State Medical Association be consulted to identify a group of physicians to conduct an impartial review of DOC healthcare operations.
“The department has been acting in good faith with the ACLU,” says DOC spokesperson Gregory Smith. “We have been making every effort to avoid a potentially lengthy litigation.”
A December 2007 report commissioned by the ACLU to investigate conditions and treatment at Ely criticized the standard of medical care, and the ACLU called on the governor to investigate conditions and commit resources to implement systematic reforms of a system described as “broken and dysfunctional.”
The December report documented the findings of Dr. William K. Noel, who reviewed the medical records of 35 inmates. The care provided at Ely amounted to the “grossest possible medical malpractice and the most shocking and callous disregard for human life and suffering,” Noel writes.
The ACLU cites a number of cases in which DOC staff denied inmates medication, treatment or surgical intervention for chronic conditions or acute problems that resulted in unnecessary suffering for inmates and risked their health.
Alleging the state is violating inmates’ constitutional rights to protection from cruel and unusual punishment, the ACLU is seeking a court-appointed monitor to oversee healthcare in the state prison system.
In January, the Board of State Prison Commissioners rejected an ACLU request to voluntarily transfer prison healthcare oversight to the federal courts, after DOC officials submitted a report refuting the major findings of the Noel-ACLU report. Although acknowledging problems and deficiencies in the prison medical system, the DOC reported that inmate care satisfies constitutionally mandated levels.
“The director firmly believes that the medical care at Ely State Prison is more than adequate,” says a DOC spokesperson.
Noel, who is board-certified in family practice and trained in osteopathic medicine, concluded it is unlikely the reviewed cases constituted aberrations. Noel retired from active practice in 1996 and is qualified to testify as an expert witness in state and federal court in Colorado, Idaho and Nevada.