Just this week, Louisville had its 18th death in the Louisville Metro Department of Correction (LMDC). 18 deaths in three years. That’s a person lost every two months.
The majority of those incarcerated at LMDC are more than 80% pre-trial (read: without a conviction), and many remained in the jail due to lack of ability to pay the bail required to remain out while waiting on trial.
Two big things, poverty is still a jailable offense in the United States, and that needs to be corrected. Cash bail needs to be eliminated. The other is that whatever is happening at LMDC needs to be fixed.
That’s an oversimplification of a complex issue.
Judges continue to pump people into the system with no attention to whether or not the system has somewhere to put these people, and whether or not the people can afford the bail set by the judges. Further, there are many sitting in jail for offenses like substance use that shouldn’t be held in a population where drugs are still flowing into the jail. Those suffering from addictions should be moved to treatment programs more quickly.
The jail is overcrowded. At the last update of the LMDC population dashboard in September, the main jail was over capacity by about 14 people. The jail has capacity for 1353 inmates.
As well, the LMDC staff lack personnel to adequately perform the management of the jail, and are often working overtime.
On Thursday, the ACLU of Kentucky held a press conference discussing the latest two deaths, which happened this month on Nov. 6 when 53 year-old Shawnta Hughes was found unresponsive, and another on Tuesday, Nov. 19 when a 54-year-old man was found unresponsive. The name of the last person has yet to be released.
ACLU Kentucky Executive Director Amber Dukes said that the inmates in LMDC are in “immediate danger.”
Judi Jennings, who acts as spokesperson for the Louisville Family Justice Advocates says that the organization is actively working to advocate for a proper healthcare management contract. LMDC had a contract with Wellpath, a company that declared bankruptcy shortly after losing the LMDC contract to Yescare who has also declared bankruptcy in Texas, and reached a deal for $75 million dollars of debt relief. Jennings said that these companies have a habit of declaring bankruptcy. This seemingly happens when they are met with lawsuits over poor medical care.
The risk to inmates when companies lack accountability for care is astronomical. In fact, on occasion the use of bankruptcy can allow companies to reform as new entities securing new contracts with the same lack of care.
This isn’t an issue the public can ignore. Not everyone who encounters incarceration is violent, nor should they be removed from society. So very many are addicted and need treatment services, and others are simply too poor to pay the low bail to get them out.
How many people need to die at the hands of Metro Corrections before there is action?
How is Mayor Greenberg addressing this issue? Is he addressing this issue?
His statement from Nov. 19 doesn’t give much.
“Mental health services have been made available for incarcerated individuals who may have been impacted by this death,” Greenberg said in his statement. “(LMDC) Chief (Jerry) Collins has activated the Metro Corrections Peer Support Team for all staff.”
The public, the inmates, the jail staff all need answers about when and how conditions will improve. When will the population be brought under control? When will medical care be adequate and efficient enough to prevent deaths, many of which seem to have been avoidable?
Neglect is a human rights violation and we know that Louisville Metro Government and the LMPD have been found to have grossly violated the civil rights of individuals in Louisville by the U.S. Department of Justice. The DOJ found that Louisville Metro and LMPD:
- Uses excessive force, including unjustified neck restraints and the unreasonable use of police dogs and tasers;
- Conducts searches based on invalid warrants;
- Unlawfully executes search warrants without knocking and announcing;
- Unlawfully stops, searches, detains, and arrests people during street enforcement activities, including traffic and pedestrian stops;
- Unlawfully discriminates against Black people in its enforcement activities;
- Violates the rights of people engaged in protected free speech critical of policing;
- and Along with Louisville Metro, discriminates against people with behavioral health disabilities when responding to them in crisis.
It makes sense that this would extend into the jail and correctional facilities system.
The answers we need are not that mental health services are being provided but answers to the questions above about population in the system, adequate medical care, and when will staff have the support that they need to manage the jail properly?
I’ve said this before but it is far past time that the United States move away from the idea of punitive justice. Not all offenses net a punishment, and even if they do, that punishment doesn’t need to mean tossing people into overcrowded systems with drug flow problems, and inadequate medical care and staffing. The entire system is complicit in these deaths, from the judges to the city, and the ultimate price is being paid by the bodies of those who were placed there outside of their control.
That jails and prisons operate poorly and support too many private entities with large amounts of public money is another editorial. The public should care that their tax dollars are being spent on poor private care just like they cared about the school tax dollars not being spent on private education for wealthy families.
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This article appears in Nov 20 – Dec 3, 2024.
