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| County jail withheld water, medication from inmate |
| By The Dallas Morning News |
| Published: 09/13/2004 |
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A mentally ill inmate in the Dallas County (Texas) jail nearly died in April after jailers cut off his drinking water for at least 13 days and denied him his psychiatric medications for two months, an internal investigation by the Sheriff's Department found. James Monroe Mims, 53, was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital on April 9 after jail trusties found him on the floor of his cell, semiconscious, incoherent and soaked in his own waste, investigators wrote in their report. At Parkland, emergency room nurses immediately saw that Mr. Mims was critically ill, suffering from severe dehydration and kidney failure. He had pressure sores on his shoulder, back and hip, indicating that he had been lying unaided for a long period of time, nurses told investigators. Mr. Mims spent three months in Parkland, the first of those months in intensive care, before doctors pulled him through, family members said. His mother, Cleo McGee of Dallas, said that before her son's recovery, a doctor advised her to consider hospice care because he was expected to die. Sgt. Don Peritz, spokesman for Sheriff Jim Bowles and the Sheriff's Department, said he could not comment because of a potential lawsuit by Mr. Mims' family. The family's attorney, David Finn, described the case as an outrage and said he wants Dallas County District Attorney Bill Hill to convene a grand jury to investigate. "If somebody denied water to a horse or a dog for two weeks, they'd be prosecuted," said Mr. Finn, who lost the 2002 Republican primary for district attorney to Mr. Hill. "This is sickening." Mr. Hill's spokeswoman, Rachel Horton, said the district attorney's office would consider an investigation if Mr. Finn requested one. She said he apparently had not done so by last Thursday. Mr. Mims was charged in 1978 with two counts of attempted murder in the shooting of two Dallas police officers during a domestic standoff. He was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial, however, and has been in state mental hospitals since. Dallas County judges and juries have repeatedly found him mentally ill and incompetent to stand trial. |
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