Prison staff ignored inmate’s ‘stabbing’ ear pain, then he died, Alaska lawsuit says
An otherwise healthy inmate died after a “raging” ear infection developed into spinal meningitis as staff at an Alaska prison ignored his “desperate” pleas for medical aid, a new lawsuit says.
Lewis Jordan Jr. developed a “stabbing pain in his ear” and “flu-like symptoms” while at Goose Creek Correctional Complex in March 2023, according to the lawsuit filed March 4 on behalf of his estate and survivors.
The symptoms were “obvious signs of an acute ear infection,” according to the lawsuit, but staff didn’t help him.
They also ignored fellow inmates who grew concerned over Jordan’s worsening state, per the lawsuit.
Jordan was discovered “unresponsive in his cell” about five days after the ear pain started, according to the lawsuit.
He died the following month at a hospital “when his family made the heart-wrenching decision to remove him from life support,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit names the state Department of Corrections and two corrections officers among the defendants.
An attorney for the state wasn’t listed in court records the morning of March 7, and the state hadn’t yet filed a response.
That will happen within “the time provided” by court rules, a corrections spokesperson told McClatchy News in an email, adding that “it would be premature” to comment on the lawsuit now.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska and the Colorado-based Highlands Law Firm are representing Jordan’s estate and survivors in the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Alaska.
In an ACLU news release, Highlands attorney Zach Warren called Jordan’s death “tragic” and “preventable.” Corrections staff “had multiple opportunities to take action to save (Jordan’s) life but instead deliberately disregarded his requests for help and the visible signs that his life was fading,” Warren said, per the release.
According to the lawsuit, Jordan “did everything he could” within the system to speak up for himself.
Other inmates also advocated for him, the court filing said.
But he was ignored, even as “he became so visibly sick” that “he had trouble walking and talking,” according to the lawsuit.
Jordan’s cellmate eventually “found him unresponsive, laying on the floor, bleeding, and covered in vomit,” the court filing said.
Staff at Goose Creek initially assumed that he’d overdosed and relayed that to the hospital, delaying diagnosis, the lawsuit said.
Goose Creek Correctional Complex is in Point Mackenzie, about a 70-mile drive north from Anchorage.
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