On May 25, Kentrell Hurst, a 36 year old mother of five, died in the Orleans Justice Center jail, marking the most recent in-custody death for the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Hurst is the second person in the last six months to have died while on a detox protocol administered by Constant Care Solutions, a private company contracted by the OPSO to provide medical services to inmates. Though a coroner ruled that Dennis Edwards, 41, died on December 15 of natural causes, reports indicate that he died in similar circumstances to Hurst. A nurse who is suing CCS for a wrongful firing in the wake of Edwards’ death, alleged that her supervisors ignored her attempts to alert them of his dire condition. Neither Hurst nor Edwards were taken to the hospital.
Hurst and Edwards’ deaths follow last October’s deaths of Narada Mealey, 32, and Evan Sullivan, 27, from an ulcer and pulmonary edema (or “apparent natural causes”, as OPSO would have it), respectively. Mealey, a father of 6, was jailed for failing to pay court fees in connection with a misdemeanor marijuana conviction. His family reported that he had complained to his jailers about his condition yet had received no medical attention.
Citing an inmate death rate four times the national average, a recent federal monitors’ report described Orleans Parish Prison as “critically unsafe.” Those who have seen and those whose family has seen the inside of OPP know all too well the daily injustices and humiliations of prison life. Those of us on the outside must stand in solidarity with our imprisoned brothers and sisters to demand that the state honor every person’s human right to healthcare.