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| Va. jail inmate who died is said to have screamed for help |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 10/20/2003 |
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An inmate's repeated cries for medical help were ignored by officers for several hours before he died, according to six men in his cellblock at the Rappahannock Regional Jail in Stafford, Va. Only when Damon Michael Kissam fell silent did he get the medical attention he had asked for, but by then it was too late, the inmates said. The medical examiner's office in Richmond lists Kissam's official cause of death April 25 as ``acute seizure episode due to delirium tremens and acute ethanol withdrawal.'' An expert on alcoholism told The Free Lance-Star of Fredericksburg alcohol withdrawal need not be fatal if medical attention is given soon enough. Four inmates have died in custody at the regional jail since last fall. Three of the four deaths were ruled suicides. Jail Superintendent Larry Hamilton issued a statement that said the jail regretted the deaths and that the inmates who claimed officers neglected Kissam ``probably have malicious motives.'' Spotsylvania County Commonwealth's Attorney William Neely, a member of the board that oversees the jail, said Kissam's death needs to be viewed in the perspective of a jail, which is ``constantly besieged'' with intoxicated people. ``And those inmates constantly cry - most of it falsely - for medical attention, in my experience. ``If a mistake was made - and I'm not conceding one was - you can certainly see how when officers are dealing with that type of crowding and that type of malingering, which is typical, that a jaded perspective may have been in place,'' Neely told The Free Lance-Star. Deputy Superintendent Tod Runyon said in a statement Kissam began experiencing medical complications about an hour before he was pronounced dead. Kissam's mother and fiancee say the Sterling man had battled alcohol in recent years. He was serving a 20-day sentence for driving on a suspended license. State police continue to investigate Kissam's death, in addition to the three suicides at the jail. |
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