Jail Suicide & Death
Once a person is incarcerated, the state takes away his power to care for himself. A prisoner, and his or her her family, are powerless to provide necessary medical and psychiatric care. Our jails and prisons, disgracefully, often fail to provide for the basic needs of these members of our community. Yet our jails and prisons are filled with people with serious medical and psychiatric needs. Those in command of our jails and prisons have a constitutional duty to provide for the serious medical needs of prisoners. Courts have explained many times that this duty is mandatory. Lack of funds is no excuse. When predictable tragedy and death results from jailers’ deliberate indifference to prisoners’ serious medical needs, Haddad & Sherwin LLP are experienced and ready to obtain justice for families. We also insist on reforms so that jailers must comply with their constitutional duties, and other families do not have to endure such loss.
Contact us today to get a free consultation with an experienced, Oakland-based police misconduct attorney. We handle cases throughout California, including the Bay Area, San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, North Coast, Central Coast, Central Valley, and more!
RESULTS
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$8.3 Million for Jail Death — Largest Wrongful Death Civil Rights Settlement in California State History
After over four years of litigation and finishing the first week of a 10 week trial, Alameda County and Corizon Health, Inc., a national for-profit jail health care corporation, have ended a wrongful death civil rights case by agreeing to pay $8.3 mi...
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$1.6 Million Settlement for Mother of Mentally Ill Young Man, Deprived of Care, Who Committed Suicide in the Siskiyou County Jail
Matthew Anderson, 28, was high functioning with proper care and medication. But when he was arrested for acting out due to his mental illness, the Siskiyou County Jail failed to provide him with the psychiatric care he needed and could not provide fo...
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$1.6 Million Plus Reforms for Family of Mentally Ill Man, Mishandled and Killed By Police
The parents and young son of 32-year-old Sean Arlt brought this case seeking justice and reforms from the Santa Cruz Police Department that mismanaged his psychotic episode, unnecessarily shooting and taking the life of this gentle and beloved man. ...
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$1.3 Million for Preventable Suicide of Young Man in Jail
21-year-old Shaymus Digiantomasso had been a jail detention officer with another county when he began having mental health issues. He was arrested for a minor crime and taken to the Kings County Jail, where despite clear warnings that he was unstabl...
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$1 Million for Mother and Sons of Mentally Ill Man Allowed to Hang Himself in the Tulare County Jail
In 2010, Mario Lopez's mother called 911 when her son needed immediate care for his mental illness. Expecting an ambulance, a sheriff's deputy arrived, and rather than take Mario to the hospital as he told Mrs. Lopez he would, he arrested Mario. The ...