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| Jail inmate set self ablaze |
| By American News Writer |
| Published: 01/10/2005 |
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An inmate at the Brown County, Texas, Jail accumulated nearly $20,000 in medical costs last year, the result from time she spent receiving treatment for self-inflicted burns.Sheriff Mark Milbrandt said the woman used a match to light her clothing on fire. The incident happened last fall. Some details of the incident were included in a letter from a jail inmate to the American News. In recent years, the jail and judicial system have made agreements to keep people with severe medical problems out of jail. The county is required to pay for many medical treatments people in jail get. This incident, however, was different. Milbrandt said the woman somehow took a match with her into a small cell where she was being held. She then used the match to light a pant leg of her jail outfit. Milbrandt said she had to be taken for burn treatment to Avera St. Luke's Hospital, where she spent several days. The female inmate wanted to harm herself, Milbrandt said. Late last year, the jail budget was supplemented by about $107,000. Roughly $20,000 of that was the result of the woman's hospital stay and the treatment of her burns. Milbrandt has told county commissioners, who finalize the jail budget, that trying to predict what type of medical expenses may arise in a year is nearly impossible. In 2002, the jail budget was supplemented nearly $200,000. Of that, about $75,000 was to cover the medical expenses of one male inmate who eventually died from his medical condition. |
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