Family says jail negligent in inmate’s death
The family of an inmate who died last month amid a mumps outbreak at the Harris County Jail think he might have been exposed to the contagion at the facility.
At a news conference outside the jail Monday, the prisoner’s wife, children and a granddaughter said they thought the jail had been negligent in protecting Ronald Washington after he was exposed to mumps.
Randall Kallinen, a lawyer for the family, said mumps is “highly treatable” and said the family wants the Texas Rangers to investigate.
“Harris County has a pattern of indifference to medical and mental health care, which has led to the serious injury and death of dozens of individuals,” Kallinen said. “The family wants and deserves to know the facts of what happened to their loved one as does the public, so this can be prevented in the future.”
Washington, 68, was pronounced dead June 11 at St. Joseph Medical Center, according to the medical examiner’s office. The cause of death was determined to be primary arthroscloratic and hypertensive
cardiovascular disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
While county officials did not announce Washington’s death in relation to the mumps outbreak, family members said they suspect he died from poor medical supervision after he was identified as having been in contact with the illness.
The sheriff’s office did not provide an immediate response to an inquiry about the death and referred questions about the outbreak to the city’s health department.
A health department official said there has been no indication of a death in association with the mumps outbreak but could not comment about any specific inmate. Deaths associated with the illness are rare, the spokesperson said.
The jail had 12 confirmed cases of mumps, including 10 inmates and two staff members, according to the Houston Health Department. Sixteen people were kept in isolation because of concerns they had or were suspected of having mumps. A larger group, approximately 630 people possibly exposed to those with symptoms, were kept in quarantine, said Scott Packard, spokesperson for the city’s health department.
Packard said the medical staff at the jail recognized that one inmate had mumps symptoms in mid-May, and shortly thereafter several other inmates and a staff members contracted symptoms. The first case of mumps was confirmed June 6.
The airborne illness has a 25-day incubation period. Vaccines are 88 percent effective, Packard said. He said the vast majority of people recover, but there are some complications that can lead to encephalitis, or brain swelling, and death.
Kallinen said the lack of transparency about what happened to Washington is appalling.
“The Harris County jail has an atrocious record of deaths due to lack of medical care, which continues despite the many deaths and warnings from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards,” he said.