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Immigrant Detainee Who Lost Leg in Jail Gets $1.5 Million

By Jeralyn, Section Civil Liberties
Posted on Tue Dec 18, 2007 at 01:43:00 AM EST
Tags: immigrants, detention centers (all tags)
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Back in 2005 I wrote Welcome to America, It Will Only Cost You a Leg , about Moises Carranza-Reye, an immigrant from Mexico who came to Colorado looking for work. He ended up in a county jail on an immigration hold, where he lost a lung and part of a leg after developing a streptococcus infection.

He sued in federal court, and today his lawyer announced a settlement. Carranza-Reye will receive 1.5 million dollars.

About the Park County Jail:

Park County Jail...houses alien detainees under a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).....[It] takes in immigration detainees and overflow inmates from other counties and the state prison system, charging $45 a day per prisoner; "This jail is a revenue-generator for the county," says Colorado Springs attorney Lloyd Kordick. "They're actively advertising for customers. They're also trying to minimize their costs, and they really didn't care about the consequences."

The treatment Carranza-Reyes and the other detainees received will make you sick: [More...]

Carranza-Reyes says he was handed a soiled uniform and assigned to a foul-smelling mattress on the floor between two other prisoners, in an open cellblock containing upward of fifty immigration detainees.

Many of the prisoners were sick. There were two toilets for the entire unit, both spattered with vomit and feces. People coughed up phlegm or blood into wads of toilet paper and tossed them on the floor. Then other people would step on the wads in their flip-flops, tracking the fluids across the room. The two men on either side of Carranza-Reyes were so weak they couldn't get up for meals; he had to bring them their food.

Carrano-Reyes got sick and they told him he had altitude sickness. When they couldn't ignore his worsening condition any longer, they took him to a hospital.

The doctors determined he was suffering from pneumonia, sepsis, abnormal blood chemistry, and who-knows-what-else from the virulent stew of streptococci and other contagions raging in the detainee ward.

....In Denver, Carranza-Reyes went into cardiac arrest and had to be resuscitated. His body had erupted in black, crusty sores. The surgical team had to remove part of his right lung and his left foot, which had turned gangrenous.

When ICE found out, they tried to dodge the liability bullet:

When immigration officials learned that he was in the intensive-care unit in Denver, they promptly released him from their custody, absolving their agency of any further expense in the matter.

His medical expenses came to $672,000.

Fitted with a prosthesis on his left leg, Carranza-Reyes now lives in Northglenn with his brother and sister-in-law. He walks with the aid of a cane, but he does not work.

The operation left a hole in his leg that has never healed. Fluids ooze out of it. Sometimes it bleeds. Carranza-Reyes has trouble breathing, but he thinks it is just because he is getting fat, sitting around and not working.

The attorney for the Denver hospital has filed a lien for the $672k against any recovery he receives in the civil suit. As for Park County,

Park County officials do not admit any liability and have denied Carranza-Reyes's charges despite the settlement agreement.

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    Immigrant Detainee Who Lost Leg in Jail Gets $1.5 Million | 25 comments (25 topical)

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    the only thing at all surprising (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by cpinva on Mon Dec 17, 2007 at 11:48:10 PM EST
    about this is that: a. it's become public knowledge., and b. he sued and was (at least marginally) successful.

    to be blunt, the general public could truly care less about the condition of our nation's prisons, at every level, and even less about those residing in them, unless they happen to be a relative, maybe.

    this isn't to say that we (the general public) think they should be dropped into the "black hole of calcutta", but that, in the grand scheme of things, and our personal lives, it doesn't register on our scope.

    that we have "prisons for profit" is telling in and of itself. it's indicative of how we, as a society, feel about those incarcerated; they are merely another fungible good, to be used for profit.

    harsh? damn right it's harsh! sadly, you can't prove me wrong.

    ummmm, yes they are jarober. (5.00 / 0) (#6)
    by cpinva on Tue Dec 18, 2007 at 08:24:52 AM EST
    what rationale you use to assert otherwise escapes me. that he committed acts resulting in his incarceration, is a wholly separate issue from the condition of the jail he was placed in.

    i checked again, to be sure i'd not missed anything. nope, i didn't. no one suggested he wasn't personally responsible for being in jail. that has absolutely no bearing whatever on what the conditions of his (or anyone else's) incarceration should be.

    conflating the two is utter flummery.

    From the Sherrif's re-election website... (5.00 / 0) (#9)
    by MileHi Hawkeye on Tue Dec 18, 2007 at 03:55:50 PM EST
    "Does operating a jail for profit mean that you're too worried about the bottom line instead of the safety and health of the prisoners?

    It's really just the opposite. When providing services to other agencies, we have to maintain the highest standard of any department that might use our facility. If we don't, they will not contract with us. Our jail is also subject to regular inspections, including unannounced visits by the Department of Corrections."

    The highest standards, people!  Unless, of course, you aren't white like 95% of the population of Park County.  

    Prisons as a money making proposition, such a wonderful, well-thought out concept.  What could possibly go wrong?

    Well... (1.00 / 0) (#2)
    by jarober on Tue Dec 18, 2007 at 05:57:53 AM EST
    The jail he was in should not be in such a state, for him or for anyone else.

    However, ask yourself this: had he either stayed in Mexico, or crossed legally, would he have been there in the first place?

    He's responsible for his own actions.

    Of course (5.00 / 0) (#5)
    by Jen M on Tue Dec 18, 2007 at 08:14:19 AM EST
    those with all the power to run the prison and make sure order is kept have no obligation whatsoever to behave responsibly.

    It is way much to expect the people with the authority, power, and money to take resposibility for their own actions.

    They should never be held accountable for what they do wrong as long as someone with no power, no authority, and no way to help themselves is the only one's whos lives are destroyed.


    Parent

    So he got what he deserved? (none / 0) (#3)
    by lilybart on Tue Dec 18, 2007 at 06:52:11 AM EST
    Wow, you have no respect for basic human rights and no respect for your own country, a country founded on principals that reject this kind of treatment.

    And those people sold into Gitmo who were innocent of anything other than being in Afghanistan during an attack, they got what they deserved too I suppose.

    America is better than this, but its people show that they are not good enough to be Americans.

    Parent

    This surprises you? (5.00 / 0) (#7)
    by Molly Bloom on Tue Dec 18, 2007 at 10:40:08 AM EST
    Its a staple of conservatism. Its why compassionate conservatism was an oxymoron.

    Conservatives actually do believe in Darwinism- Social Darwinism.

    Parent

    Being a social liberal (1.00 / 0) (#8)
    by jimakaPPJ on Tue Dec 18, 2007 at 03:26:24 PM EST
    I believe he was treated poorly. He should have been immediately deported.

    But, since he wasn't the jail should have been operated properly.

    My question to you is simple.

    Please prove that those running the jail were conservatives.


    Parent

    My question to you is simpler (5.00 / 0) (#10)
    by Molly Bloom on Tue Dec 18, 2007 at 04:02:41 PM EST
    Can you read? Please review the post I was responding to. Oy Vey!

    Parent
    Can you read?? (1.00 / 0) (#11)
    by jimakaPPJ on Tue Dec 18, 2007 at 07:41:23 PM EST
    Prove that the people involved were conservatives?

    Fact is that you can't.

    That flashlight must have blown its bulb.

    Parent

    gentle hint old (none / 0) (#12)
    by Molly Bloom on Wed Dec 19, 2007 at 05:00:28 PM EST
    Who is the you lillybart is referring to?

    Parent
    hehe (none / 0) (#13)
    by jimakaPPJ on Wed Dec 19, 2007 at 05:06:42 PM EST
    It appears to me she is claiming that the sins of Colorado are that they are conservatives who also have done, in her narrow minded and inaccurate view,
    evil things...

    Prove that these people are conservatives.

    You can't. She can't. All you can do is rant and smear.

    No wonder you need a light. All the slime you sling has got in your eyes.

    Parent

    None so blind as those who will not see (5.00 / 1) (#14)
    by Molly Bloom on Thu Dec 20, 2007 at 10:46:46 AM EST
    what's right in front of them.

    Parent
    Given your blindness I'd better help you out (5.00 / 1) (#15)
    by Molly Bloom on Thu Dec 20, 2007 at 10:49:58 AM EST
    Lillybart clearly was not

    ...claiming that the sins of Colorado are that they are conservatives who also have done...

    Nope. The "You" in her post was quite specific.


    Parent

    Speaking of reading (1.00 / 0) (#16)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 10:13:34 AM EST
    She was responding to Jarober, who wrote:

    The jail he was in should not be in such a state, for him or for anyone else.

    However, ask yourself this: had he either stayed in Mexico, or crossed legally, would he have been there in the first place?

    He's responsible for his own actions.

    Jarober clearly condemned the problems at the jail.

    She wrote:

    So he got what he deserved?

    (Actually that's not what he said. He said the treatment was wrong. But he got the wrong treatment because he was there. And he was there because he had committed an illegal act.

    But why should she stick to facts? But no matter.)

    Wow, you have no respect for basic human rights and no respect for your own country, a country founded on principals that reject this kind of treatment.

    (Uh, that was what he did. Read his first sentence.)

    And those people sold into Gitmo who were innocent of anything other than being in Afghanistan during an attack, they got what they deserved too I suppose.

    (Nice non sequitur but it has nothing do with the condition of the jail.)

    America is better than this, but its people show that they are not good enough to be Americans.

    "its people?" Now "its" is possessive, so she is clearly condemning America's people. That would be you, jarober, me, etc., and et al...

    Now, what was the subject of the post and what was the subject of jarober's comment.

    The Park County jail.

    So she is clearly condemning the jail's "keepers," along with all Americans.

    You commented:

    Its a staple of conservatism. Its why compassionate conservatism was an oxymoron.

    Conservatives actually do believe in Darwinism- Social Darwinism.

    I wrote:

    I believe he was treated poorly. He should have been immediately deported.

    But, since he wasn't the jail should have been operated properly.

    My question to you is simple.

    Please prove that those running the jail were conservatives.

    Now. Since you can not do that, why not admit that you just wanted to make a snark and get on with your life rather than defending a really snarky comment??

    Or just keep on digging your hole.

    I really prefer you do the latter.

    Parent

    You finally figured it out! (5.00 / 0) (#17)
    by Molly Bloom on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 11:36:55 AM EST
    Give the man a cigar!

    Ok, now connect the dots. between my comment and hers.

    Why do you think I need to change the subject of my comment to what you you think the subject of my comment should be?  

    Parent

    Really? (1.00 / 0) (#18)
    by jimakaPPJ on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 08:49:48 PM EST
    What blather.

    The question was, prove that the jailers are conservative.

    Parent

    again (5.00 / 0) (#19)
    by Molly Bloom on Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 09:27:36 PM EST
    Why do you think I need to change the subject of my comment to what you you think the subject of my comment should be?  

    Parent
    Wanna dance?? (none / 0) (#20)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 22, 2007 at 09:41:58 AM EST
    You made a claim.

    Prove it.

    Parent

    No. You claimed I made a claim (5.00 / 1) (#21)
    by Molly Bloom on Sat Dec 22, 2007 at 10:02:46 AM EST
    We spent several posts going over this. You finally figured out "my claim" and got a cigar. Then you turned around as if you never won that cigar and demanded I address your straw argument again.

    It does help to keep up.

    Parent

    This is the claim. This is the question. (none / 0) (#22)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 22, 2007 at 04:22:55 PM EST
    by Molly Bloom on Tue Dec 18, 2007 at 09:40:08 AM CST
    Its a staple of conservatism. Its why compassionate conservatism was an oxymoron.

    Conservatives actually do believe in Darwinism- Social Darwinism.

       

    Being a social liberal (1.00 / 1) (#8)
        by jimakaPPJ on Tue Dec 18, 2007 at 02:26:24 PM CST
        I believe he was treated poorly. He should have been immediately deported.

        But, since he wasn't the jail should have been operated properly.

        My question to you is simple.

        Please prove that those running the jail were conservatives.

    Your failure is obvious.

    Parent

    selective editing Jimbo. (5.00 / 1) (#23)
    by Molly Bloom on Sat Dec 22, 2007 at 05:31:59 PM EST
    Not exactly intellectually honest of you.

    Parent
    Prove your charge. (none / 0) (#24)
    by jimakaPPJ on Tue Dec 25, 2007 at 09:01:38 PM EST


    Parent
    Ummm (1.00 / 0) (#4)
    by jarober on Tue Dec 18, 2007 at 07:04:50 AM EST
    He should not have gotten the treatment he received in jail, sure.  However, as an illegal immigrant, I have no problem with him being placed in jail.

    There's two levels of responsibility here:

    The municipality running that jail should be reamed for how they run it

    The illegal immigrant is responsible for the actions that got him into jail in the first place

    The two are not mutually exclusive, much as the left would like to believe they are

    The jailers political persuasion doesn't matter (none / 0) (#25)
    by katmandu on Mon Jan 07, 2008 at 05:20:47 PM EST
    The prisoner was completely under the jail's
    control and care.  They were responsible for
    his health.  He should be given the $ and
    deported.  

    Immigrant Detainee Who Lost Leg in Jail Gets $1.5 Million | 25 comments (25 topical)

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