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| Parents Seek $500,000 in Delco Jail Death |
| By Philadelphia Inquirer |
| Published: 10/24/2005 |
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Brian Sullivan in a Pennsylvania jail for failing to attend a court-ordered drug treatment program after a DUI arrest - died in Delaware County's troubled George W. Hill Correctional Facility on April 15 from a heroin overdose, a medical examiner's report shows. It was the second time in six months that Sullivan had overdosed on heroin while in the county prison, despite his parents' pleas with prison officials to help their son fight his addiction. "He thought that this would be something that would shake Brian up," attorney Richard Golomb said, speaking for his client. "You know, scared straight." Golomb filed a federal lawsuit last week on behalf of the Sullivan family seeking in excess of $500,000 in damages. The suit adds to a growing list of problems at the states only privately run jail - which announced yesterday that it would ease its overcrowding by returning about 350 Philadelphia inmates to the city. Officials with the company that operates the prison - Geo Group of Boca Raton, Fla., formerly known as Wackenhut - declined to comment on the lawsuit. Members of the county board in charge of overseeing Geo Group's management of the jail referred calls about the lawsuit to Media lawyer Robert DiOrio, who said he received the lawsuit yesterday morning and declined to comment. The lawsuit accuses the county, Geo Group, and the prison board of allowing Sullivan, 26, "to remain in a general prison population into which heroin was smuggled and easily accessible by prisoners," even though he had a history of abusing drugs while in custody. The lawsuit also alleges that some correctional officers were smuggling drugs into the jail. Throughout his son's incarceration, Paul Sullivan also told the jailers that his son needed counseling and needed to be kept away from drugs, the suit states. Sullivan's fatal overdose is among five deaths within a five-month span at the jail that have come under the scrutiny of Delaware County District Attorney G. Michael Green. The cases, also under internal review by Geo, include a killing, a suicide, and an unexplained death. The fifth death was initially described by prison officials as a suspected overdose, but a report later attributed it to a heart condition, without addressing whether the prisoner had drugs in his system. Sullivan's fatal injection marked the third time he had overdosed in custody since his January 2004 arrest - twice in the county prison and first in the custody of the Marple Township Police after his arrest, according to the suit. Sullivan was arrested at his parents' home on a Broomall cul-de-sac for failing to complete a drug-treatment program after a 2003 DUI arrest, court records show. After his overdose in the Marple Township Police Department and a brief hospital stay, Sullivan was taken to the Delaware County jail and put in the general population, the suit states. There, he suffered his second heroin overdose, in October 2004, and was hospitalized again. When he was returned to the jail, he was again placed in the general population, according to the lawsuit. Six months later, on the day of his death, prison employees found Sullivan in a "non-responsive state" in his cell, according to the lawsuit. The suit asserts that the "inadequately trained personnel" did not seek immediate help for Sullivan, who was found hours later dead in his cell. The suit alleges that Geo Group and the oversight board took no action to control drugs inside the prison, such as a classification system that would have identified a potential overdose victim to officers. The prison also failed to adequately train employees to recognize an overdose and to screen officers to prevent them from smuggling in drugs, the suit states. At a prison-board meeting yesterday, Nardolillo, the warden, said that employees and visitors have to walk through an ion scanner that can detect traces of drug residue. The prison also plans to expand, adding an additional 300 beds, and is trying to move state inmates out of the jail quicker, deputy warden John Reilly said. Starting next week, a public defender will be on site three days a week and hearings will be held through video-conferencing to move inmates through the system faster, he said. |
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