Posted on 11/12/2009 3:04:39 PM PST by The Magical Mischief Tour
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Ebodio Castillo spent his final night gasping for breath, crying in pain and begging for help but was ignored in the jail where he was serving a five-day sentence for a driver's license violation, more than two dozen fellow inmates say.
The experience so rattled other inmates at the Warren County Jail that 14 took the unusual step of signing a letter to a local newspaper, and others wrote separate letters and gave interviews to The Associated Press.
An autopsy concluded Castillo, 51, died of complications from bronchopneumonia the day before he was to be released. His family says he was a healthy man before he began his short sentence for driving on a suspended license, making his rapid decline that much more shocking.
Sheriff Jackie Matheny said his staff did nothing wrong and that Castillo refused help. Inmates say the staff ignored an obviously sick man and state investigators never interviewed them before completing a report that remains closed to the public. "I don't believe this man was just absolutely neglected," Matheny said. "I feel like that if he would have shown signs of having pneumonia, of being very ill, we would have done something."
Castillo entered jail on Thursday, June 25 and, according to a letter from fellow inmate Rosendo Ramirez, by early Saturday morning he was cold and trembling. He did not sleep all night and by Sunday Castillo told Ramirez he was going to die and wanted to see his son. Rather than take him to a doctor, jailers moved him to a cell in a different part of the jail, Ramirez wrote. "I'm writing you because I just witnessed a man die today for no reason," inmate David Galaz wrote in a letter to the editor of the McMinnville newspaper, The Southern Standard, and signed by 14 inmates.
The details differ slightly, but interviews and letters that encompass the testimony of 24 inmates say Castillo was visibly ill when he was brought into their pod on June 28, the day before his death. "You could hear him saying, 'Help me, buddy. Help me,"' inmate Zacheriah Holden said in a telephone interview. "You could hear him praying, 'Please. Please.' He begged and begged."
The inmates claim his pleading went on all night. They say a nurse refused to see Castillo early Monday, telling them he would be OK and was due to be released the next day. By 4 p.m., he was dead. "I can tell you this, some of the things said by the inmates are absolutely false," the sheriff said. "I certainly wouldn't permit our people to do wrong and abuse people, regardless of what race they are or whatever."
Castillo was an immigrant from Mexico, his son Omar Ramirez said, and he spoke very little English. In an incident report written after Castillo's death, guard Abel Rivera, a Spanish speaker who was able to communicate with Castillo, writes the inmate refused an offer to see the nurse at about 2 a.m. on the day of his death.
Dr. Todd Rice, assistant professor of medicine in the division of Allergy, Pulmonary and Critical Care at Vanderbilt University, said it is not entirely uncommon for people to get very sick from bronchopneumonia, but the illness is usually caused by a bacteria and can be treated with antibiotics. "Having worked with some prisoners I know that people make stuff up and feign things," he said. "It's a hard situation. You really have to be on your toes." Still, Rice said he found it "a bit unusual" that someone could die of bronchopneumonia without anyone realizing how sick he was because, he said, "when you have this you look sick -- you look really sick."
Dr. Feng Li, who performed the autopsy on Castillo, said he was killed both by a lack of oxygen and by the infection spreading through his body and causing multiple organs to fail.
Jail medical records show Castillo was seen by a nurse on either Friday, June 26, or Saturday, June 27 (the dates on two different forms conflict). According to the records, he had chills and a complained of an abscessed tooth and swollen lymph nodes. He was given Tylenol and not seen by a nurse again. "He was in perfect shape," his son, Omar, said. "He always worked hard. ... He was strong. Even now I still don't understand how he died."
Ramirez said his father came to Tennessee from Veracruz, Mexico, four years ago to work in a plant nursery. Jail records show U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was investigating whether Castillo was in the country illegally.
Ramirez said Castillo was saving money to buy a better house, a little land and some cattle back home, where he planned to return to be with his wife and the youngest of his five children, a 9-year-old boy who still asks to speak to his father on the phone.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation looked into Castillo's death but its report is not public. Inmates who witnessed the death said they were not interviewed. The local district attorney general, Lisa Zavogiannis, declined to bring any charges against jail staff, writing to the TBI, "No crime has been committed. He died of pneumonia." She did not address whether Castillo was denied medical care.
Omar Ramirez and other relatives filed a lawsuit against the sheriff and jail personnel on Monday with the help of Nashville immigration attorney Elliott Ozment, who was asked by the Mexican Consulate in Atlanta to look into the matter.
Although none of the inmates said they thought Castillo was discriminated against because he was Latino, his son does believe ethnicity played a role in his father's treatment.
"I feel mad," Ramirez said. "I'm mad and furious with all this happening to him for just being Hispanic, for being a different color."
There is NO excuse for this
Maybe he would not have been in jail if he was a legal immigrant.
Castillo died while in the commission of a crime. End of story.
Too bad he died but is there a word missing from the above sentence?
The city paid big time. The lawyers found out the guards were falsifying records about making rounds.
That's Nancy's plan...
1st, 3rd, 17th offense? Who knows?
I read where this kid in prison was suffering from appendicitis and the guards did nothing but tell him to suck it up ... he died three days later. No charges.
I wonder how many people realize that this is the typical care level given by any government agency. National health care would be rooted in the same calibre of “providers”.
This is terrible. While I am appalled by this, I have to say, if he was here illegally, would we want to pay for his health care? Aren’t the majority of conservatives against government health care for illegals? Just saying.
The female NASA astronaut who drove cross country to attempt to kill a romantic rival was sentenced to 2 days in jail if I am not mistaken...
If you lock someone up you have to take care of them at a basic level.
I don’t approve of someone being given the death penalty for a driver’s license violation, but I’m also sure we’re not hearing the whole story here either.
There may be some criminality here. It may also be that this guy didn’t present as being in the dire distress he was in either.
I would hope that a full investigation was executed, and that the proper course of action was taken based on findings.
It occurs to me that the other inmates may have an axe to grand here. To what degree they embellished this story, I honestly don’t know.
Huh? What in the world are you talking about?
Should have been processed for deportation the day he was arrested. But the government can't get that right either. Just saying.
This is a terrible case —this would never have happened if he had not entered this country. We should show compassion, safeguard their safety, and patrol the border with arms, and orders to shoot, the better to deter crossings.
misdemeanors and felonies are both classified as ‘crimes’ in the legal sense. violations/traffic offenses/parking tickets are lesser charges.
I think the original poster was talking about his being an illegal immigrant when he died, which of course is a misdemeanor offense.
While I agree something should be done about illegal immigration, some of my fellow conservatives never cease to amaze me with stupid statements like he deserved it, serves him right etc...
Pathetic...
Exactly and all the officials quoted in this article sound like they are covering their butts.
This happens all the time.
Only reason we’re hearing about this one is because he’s “undocumented”.
yes, I was just adding some additional accuracy to vetvetdoug’s assessment that his death was justified because he was a (presumptive) illegal immigrant. To whit, that the crime for which he so richly deserved to die in vetvetdoug’s world view is in fact a misdemeanor
That's typical for Law Enforcement here in Tennessee, if you want some entertaining reading just look up some of the news stories about our General Sessions Judges here in Trashville Tennessee....
Good answer. I feel better now.
at least in my state it could. and this guy getting 5 days for it leads me to believe it was a felony.
Too bad he died but is there a word missing from the above sentence?
You mean something like: Castillo was an immigrant from beautiful Mexico maybe?
I agree, if the POS had been home in his own country we would not have needed to put him in jail. Unusually suicide.
So this lady was born in Mexico as well???
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find only things evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelogus
Bottom line. Case closed. Thank you.
Some of the comments on this thread are truly sickening.
However, she will always be known as the bimbo that wore diapers so she wouldn’t have to pull over on her way to do something totally stupid!
2) If he arrived at the jail with bronchial symptoms similar to a drug addiction, it could be more readily overlooked.
His actually dying from the distress might be a clue that it was dire. Just saying.
The disregard for his life here is a little shocking for me to.
She is deinitely a whack job, no doubt. I bet the male astronaut she wanted is like...whew...at this point.
I was just rather astonished that this obviously insane and dangerous person received 3 days less than a man driving on a suspended license.
Well I was believing it, until the last 2 sentences.
driver’s license violation————
illegal alien?
LIAR!
“While I am appalled by this, I have to say, if he was here illegally,
would we want to pay for his health care? Aren’t the majority
of conservatives against government health care for illegals?”
Honestly, I suspect the vast majority would go for this:
Stabilize health of inmate (some antibiotics + a couple of days of
rest in a jail clinic?)
Once health is stabilized, and his illegal presence in the USA is documented,
process immediately for return to his country of origin.
With strong admonition to return only via legal route.
Otherwise he might not be so lucky to survive an American jail the
next time.
Wrong. They treat everybody that way.
Thats a terrible thing to say. He was a human being with family who loved him. He didn't deserve to die.
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