Criminal Justice
Multiple Mistakes Killed Inmate, Chicago Newspaper Says
Posted Sep 10, 2008, 12:48 pm CST
By Martha Neil
John Lambert was in the Cook County Jail because he was an addict. And, thinking that he couldn't abuse drugs or alcohol while he was there, his family didn't bail him out.
Less than a month after his arrest on cocaine possession and probation violation charges, he was found unconscious in his two-man cell with massive head injuries, reports the Chicago Tribune. It took authorities an hour and a half to get him to the hospital, and 12 days later, he died. The day he was found unconscious happened to be his 25th birthday.
An autopsy determined the cause of death to be a homicide, but his cellmate says Lambert sustained the head injuries falling off the top of his bunk. More than a year later, no one has been charged in Lambert's death. Specifically, Lambert suffered a brain hemorrhage, as a result of a beating, that cut off oxygen to his brain.
"Lambert's death was among numerous examples cited in a scathing Justice Department report this summer that found violence rampant at the nation's largest jail," the newspaper writes. "The investigation also ripped the jail for dispensing medical care so substandard that some inmates died needlessly."
In Lambert's case, getting medical treatment immediately might have saved his life, the Tribune reports:
"Time is of the essence in this condition, perhaps more than any other," says Dr. Gail Rosseau, a Chicago neurosurgeon and spokeswoman for the American Association of Neurological Surgeons.
The newspaper also questions why Lambert was put in maximum security with a cellmate accused of a violent crime. However, a spokesman for the Cook County sheriff's office says this was justified by his criminal history and an order of protection that his father had obtained.
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Comments
Posted by Donna - 2 months, 1 week, 4 days, 23 hours, 3 minutes ago
How can you kill a “dead” inmate?
Posted by Molly McDonough - 2 months, 1 week, 4 days, 22 hours, 23 minutes ago
Donna makes a good point. We dropped the word “dead” from the headline.