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| Recordings Show N.C. Jailer Rejected Help Before Inmate Died |
| By Charlotte Observer |
| Published: 10/03/2002 |
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Recordings of telephone conversations show Cherokee County's chief jailer rejected outside efforts to check on the health of a sick diabetic inmate before his death. In a recording captured by the jail's computer system, Jail Administrator Judy Mason also said she had not 'had a chance' to check the inmate's blood sugar level, despite his having been off medication for two days, The Citizen-Times of Asheville reported recently. The State Bureau of Investigation retrieved the recording of the conversation between Mason and county Emergency Medical Services Director Chuck Clayton. SBI agents are investigating the Sept. 5 death of Christopher Lee Wood, a 26-year-old father of three young children. The Citizen-Times obtained a copy of the recording through a Freedom of Information Act request filed last week. Clayton said in the recording he wanted to check on Wood's medical condition, but he was told, 'If I need you, I promise, I'll call you.' He has said he could not send an ambulance without the jail's permission. Clayton talked with three jail employees during the six- minute-long recording, which contains lengthy pauses while he is twice put on hold. Robert Lewis, chief of the state Jail and Detention Section, said an ambulance should have been called as soon as Wood stopped taking his medicine. The log shows that jailers had not checked Wood's blood sugar until the afternoon of Sept. 5. Other inmates held in or near Wood's cell said he had been sick for at least 24 hours. The log does not mention sickness on Sept. 4. Logs and computer and 911 recordings indicate Wood had been off his regimen of three insulin shots and two pills a day for at least two days. Wood had been jailed Aug. 31 and was awaiting trial on felony charges of possession of marijuana and stolen goods. |
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