Family sues medical, jail officials over prisoner’s death in Galveston lockup

The family of a man who died in Galveston County Jail has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against several officials, medical workers and private contractors at the facility, arguing that negligence led to the man’s death.

Jorge Cortez, in his mid-50s, died from complications of mesothelioma in June 2017 after a stay in Galveston County Jail. The lawsuit, filed Sunday, argues that medical and jail authorities failed to provide Cortez with adequate care even after he punctured a lung and became “too weak to eat.”

Instead of addressing what the lawsuit calls Cortez’s “serious medical need,” Soluta, a private medical contractor at the jail, “gave him over-thecounter Ibuprofen pills which did nothing,” the lawsuit states. The suit goes on to list at least five other people who allegedly died at Galveston County Jail as a result of inadequate medical care by Soluta — including an unborn child.

By allegedly denying Cortez decent medical care, the lawsuit argues, the jail violated Cortez’s Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment.

Named as defendants in the lawsuit are Galveston County; Galveston County Sheriff Henry Trochesset; several medical and jail officials, including anonymous jailers, policymakers and medical providers; and two for-profit medical contractors, Soluta and its parent company, BoonChapman Benefit Administrators.

The litigation takes particular aim at Soluta and Boon-Chapman, describing the companies as the “policymaker” in charge of making medical decisions at the jail.

The lawsuit asks for unspecified damages, including for loss of inheritance and funeral costs. Among the lawyers representing the Cortez family is Randall Kallinen, who also represented the family of John Hernandez, who was killed outside a Houston-area Denny’s in May 2017 in an altercation involving an off-duty Harris County sheriff ’s deputy and her husband.

In a phone interview, Kallinen called for Galveston County officials to audit the jail because “people are dying over there.”

“There’s just been so many deaths due to poor medical care at the Galveston County jail,” he said. “I think it’s time for the people of Galveston County to get a new (medical) contractor at that jail.”

Trochesset said that while he “was told there may be” a lawsuit, he hadn’t yet received the lawsuit and could not comment on it.

“I have not been served,” Trochesset said. “I can’t comment on stuff that I haven’t read.”

Boon-Chapman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.