CW: Death & Negligence
41-year-old Lucas Bellamy died from a perforated intestine that could have been treated. Bellamy died while incarcerated at the Hennepin County Jail in Minnesota. He spent the last days of his life in agony.
Surveillance video shows Bellamy crawling on all fours. He repeatedly begged to be taken to the hospital. Instead, a nurse gave him an antacid. Records show that Bellamy used an intercom and screamed for help.
He was subsequently given acetaminophen and more antacids. All the while, he kept begging to go to the hospital on the morning of his death.
Bellamy’s family has filed a lawsuit against Hennepin County and Hennepin Healthcare System. The lawsuit accuses Hennepin County and the Hennepin Healthcare System of negligence, claiming that more inmates have died at the jail since 2015 than at any other jail in Minnesota during the same period.
According to an investigation by NBC station KARE 11, at least ten deaths occurred at the jail between 2015 and 2021. Additionally, there are allegations that well-being checks were not properly conducted.
Medical care in the United States prison system is often inadequate. According to a 2016 study published by Christopher Wildeman, a professor of Policy Analysis and Management at Cornell University, each year a person spends in prison reduces their life expectancy by two years. Mass incarceration increases such harm on a societal level: without incarceration, the US life expectancy would be five years higher.
Every year, hundreds of incarcerated people die as a result of medical negligence. These deaths occur even though there is a 1976 Supreme Court ruling that willful disregard for someone’s medical needs constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
Estelle v. Gamble set a standard for deciding what constituted cruel and unusual treatment in jail. For correctional institutions to be found guilty of breaching prisoners’ Eighth Amendment rights, the prison must have acted with willful disregard for the medical needs of the prisoners. The prison’s actions, or failure to respond, must result in the deliberate and recklessly inflicting pain on a prisoner.
Lucas Bellamy’s death was tragic. Nobody should die the way he did. Everyone should be treated with dignity and respect. Incarnation doesn’t mean that someone should be denied medical care.
Sources:
“Estelle v. Gamble.” Oyez, http://www.oyez.org/cases/1976/75-929. Accessed 27 Jan. 2024.
McCann, Sam. “Health Care Behind Bars: Missed Appointments, No Standards, and High…” The Vera Institute of Justice, The Vera Institute of Justice, 29 June 2022, http://www.vera.org/news/health-care-behind-bars-missed-appointments-no-standards-and-high-costs.
Paúl, María Luisa. “Man Died Slowly in Minn. Jail Cell ‘Begging’ for Medical Care, …” The Washington Post , WP Company, 24 Jan. 2024, http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/01/27/minnesota-hennepin-county-inmate-death-lawsuit/.
Timar-Wilcox, Estelle. “Family of Man Who Died in Hennepin County Jail Files Federal Lawsuit.” MPR News, NPR, 24 Jan. 2024, http://www.mprnews.org/story/2024/01/23/family-of-man-who-died-in-hennepin-county-jail-files-federal-lawsuit.
Wildeman, Christopher. ‘INCARCERATION AND POPULATION HEALTH IN WEALTHY DEMOCRACIES*’. Criminology, vol. 54, no. 2, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, May 2016, pp. 360–382, https://doi.org10.1111/1745-9125.12107.