By Bill Wichert
NJ.com
NEWARK — Virgil Suggs is scheduled to go on trial this week for allegedly gunning down a woman in October 2012 while she sat in a parked car in Newark.
But the 43-year-old Irvington man also is waging a separate legal fight with Essex County over his medical care at the county jail.
In a lawsuit filed last year, Suggs alleged that he had received inadequate medical treatment since being incarcerated at the Essex County Correctional Facility on murder and related charges.
Citing the “arbitrary neglect” of county officials, Suggs is seeking $1 million in compensatory damages, according to the lawsuit filed in July 2013. Suggs is representing himself in the matter.
“As a part of that basic obligation, the State and its agents have an affirmative duty to provide reasonable access to medical care, to provide competent, diligent medical personnel, and to ensure that prescribed care is in fact delivered,” according to the complaint filed by Suggs.
“For denial of medical care is surely not part of the punishment which civilized nations may impose for crime,” the complaint states.
The defendants named in the lawsuit include the correctional facility, county freeholders and various county officials.
Full story: Accused murderer sues Essex County jail over medical care