Former Inmate Says Prison’s Delays Left Him with Brain Damage
Attorneys for a former inmate at the Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility recently filed a lawsuit against the state Corrections Department and Centurion Correctional Healthcare, accusing prison officials and workers of failing to take him to the hospital in time to prevent brain damage following an assault by other inmates in 2018.
Tyler Wheeler, 33, had blood coming from his ear, nose and mouth, could barely hold his head up and was vomiting blood, says the lawsuit, filed in the state’s First Judicial District Court.
It alleges prison employees waited hours before taking Wheeler to the hospital, and only did so after he lost consciousness. Workers also failed to report Wheeler’s true condition to emergency medical personnel, the suit says.
Doctors were able to save Wheeler’s life, the complaint says, “but were not able to reverse the secondary brain damage that had already been done due to the hours of internal bleeding without treatment.”
“Now, due to the prison staff’s failure, [Wheeler] is permanently disabled for the rest of his life,” the complaint continues.
Wheeler’s lawsuit asks the court to award him actual damages for pain and suffering, lost wages and earning capacity, and future medical bills, as well as punitive damages.
The Corrections Department declined to comment. Centurion — the former medical care vendor for state prisons — did not respond to an email seeking comment.