A Living Nightmare
By Angela Whicher
Edited by Meigan Thompson, Kirstin Cheers and Phyllis Aluko
“The random moments of tears have been often.”
Courtney* never imagined that she would become the primary caretaker of her younger brother Justin. In 2018, however, Justin* was hit by a car and suffered injuries that required the removal of half his skull. Justin’s personality completely changed and he became boy-like and impulsive. “When he was hit by the car his whole way of thinking changed and he wasn’t able to make proper decisions for himself.” Justin also became very physically fragile; he was weak and was supposed to wear a helmet because even a bad bump could cause him severe head trauma or cause a seizure.
Courtney kept a close eye on Justin, but sometimes he became agitated. On the night of February 22nd, a disagreement over Kool-Aid resulted in an altercation between Justin and a family member. In the past, Justin’s family had called the police when they wanted him to get help and Justin would not be taken into custody due to his physical health conditions.
“He couldn’t control himself. We didn’t want him to go to jail, we wanted him to get help.”
“It’s not uncommon for families to call the police when experiencing a mental health crisis,” says Kaitlin Beck, Assistant Public Defender of the Shelby County Public Defender’s Office. “The reality in Memphis is that too few mental health resources exist in our community, and many families lack information on how to access them. In the absence of readily available alternatives, the police become the default resource in situations like these.”
Courtney contacted the police to warn them of Justin’s condition and reiterate that he did not need to be arrested. “The Memphis Police Department theoretically has the capacity to respond to these calls through its ‘Crisis Intervention Team,’ or CIT,” says Public Defender Beck. “Reportedly, however, CIT did not respond to the call this time.”
When the police arrived, Justin was arrested on a charge of misdemeanor domestic assault. He was transported to the 201 Poplar Jail where his bail was set at $2,500. Courtney’s family could not afford to post Justin’s bail. Within a week of being housed in the mental ward of the jail, Justin was exhibiting pneumonia-like symptoms. He was transported to the prison ward of the hospital in Memphis.
“Initially, no one told me that Justin was in the hospital. When I got the call, I was in shock. He had been there for a few weeks. No one could tell me how he ended up there,” Courtney said, agonizing over Justin’s situation. She wanted to see him with her own eyes. “They wouldn’t let me call and ask about him at all. I had to wait for them to call us. They said we couldn’t call because he was an inmate.”
While Public Defender Beck was appointed to represent Justin, she never saw him in court and was never given any information regarding his situation, except that he was too ill to be transported to his scheduled court appearances. After multiple settings, she tracked him down at the hospital.
“When I saw Justin for the first time in the prison ward of the hospital, I was shocked. He could barely move. His speech was labored. Justin looked like he weighed less than 100 pounds—he was incredibly frail. And yet, here he was being ‘guarded’ by a sheriff’s deputy who I had to ask to leave the room so that Justin and I could discuss his case and medical status privately.”
Weeks after the initial call, Courtney heard from the hospital that Justin had been intubated and placed on a ventilator. They didn’t think he would survive.
Meanwhile, on March 20th, Public Defender Beck successfully argued for Justin to be released on his own recognizance as part of the Public Defender’s COVID-19 Bail Initiative. “While challenging pretrial detention and securing the release of my in-custody clients is priority one, the COVID-19 pandemic has made it even more critical to request that courts reconsider bail on every case where a client is in custody because of an inability to afford it. This is especially true when the client is medically vulnerable.”
When Courtney picked up Justin from the hospital, he was responsive but quickly deteriorated and could not move. After they returned home, she called an ambulance and he was taken to a different hospital immediately. The doctor told Courtney that Justin’s lungs weren’t active during his incarceration, so they became weak and started to deteriorate. Justin had black and purple bed sores on his feet, ankles, buttocks, back, legs, and calves. No one ever explained to Courtney how the sores got there.
“It’s got me furious because they should’ve never arrested him and now we have to talk today about ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ and end-of-life care. He’s dying. He’s going to die.”
Justin was placed on life support. He’s back on a ventilator permanently and he can’t breathe without it. He had a feeding tube inserted that he will need the rest of his life. Courtney is working with the hospital to get Justin into a ventilator rehabilitation center. If Justin does not improve within the next couple months, Courtney and her husband will have to decide whether to keep him on or take him off life support.
“I try to ignore the thought and be in denial. I don’t want to believe he’s going to die. I’m not ready. Justin’s only 25. This is a living nightmare.”
Editor’s Note: After this story was written, our office was saddened to learn that Justin passed away on the morning of September 3, 2020.
*In order to protect our client’s identity, the client’s and his sister’s names have been changed.
Contributing Writer
Angela Whicher, 2L
University of Minnesota Law School
I wanted to be involved in the Humanity Project because I think it's vital to bring a voice to those incarcerated during the COVID-19 outbreak. My hope for this project is to make the general public more aware of the reality of being in jail during COVID-19 and to bring a voice to those that have experienced it.