Family Sues Tangipahoa Parish Jail over Inmate’s Death

The parents of a Louisiana prisoner who died in custody at the Tangipahoa Parish Jail last year has filed a wrongful death suit.

The Advocate reports the lawsuit alleges the jail staff failed to monitor the health of Keith Joseph or provide him with treatment “evidencing a wanton disregard” for his medical needs.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court in New Orleans names the sheriff’s office, several deputies and the site’s nurse as defendants.

Sheriff Daniel Edwards extended his condolences to Joseph’s family, but has contested many of the plaintiffs’ claims, writing in an email to The Advocate that “there are abundant factual errors” with the family’s version of the story.

Joseph was booked into the jail on or about Feb. 19, 2014, the petition states. He was serving time for a revocation to his probation related to a prior felony conviction for distribution of Schedule I narcotics, the sheriff wrote.

Joseph died March 11, 2014, almost exactly a year before the suit was filed.

While he was in jail, Joseph’s mother and siblings told staff he had a number of health conditions, including blood clots surrounding his lungs and a severe but unspecified heart condition, the petition states.

The lawsuit says Joseph had been prescribed medication for his heart condition, and that when he did not take the medicine he experienced “severe and intolerable chest pains.” Around March 3, 2014, he began to complain about such pains and told a staff member identified only as Officer Brock, “and also specifically and continually requested his medication” for at least a week prior to his death, the petition claims.

Topics Lawsuits