By Howard Frank
Pocono Record
EFFORT, Pa. — Lee M. Flannery of Effort loved the New Jersey shore, the beach, bonfires and camping, his mother, Sandie Flannery remembers. He owned his own contracting business and loved to cook for others. Generous to a fault, he was devoted to his sister Jillian who has Mowat-Wilson’s syndrome.
But drugs and alcohol addiction took hold of the son who’d always helped others. He couldn’t overcome it.
Flannery was 26 when he died at the Carbon County Correctional Facility in 2013. Now, his parents have filed suit against Carbon County, its jail and some employees for, among other things, wrongful death and cruel and unusual punishment.
The lawsuit claims the correctional facility knew Flannery was sick during a short incarceration, was indifferent towards his condition and failed to provide adequate medical treatment.
“The case against the county and the prison is a deliberate indifference case,” said John Smarto, an attorney representing Flannery’s parents. “If you see someone suffering from a medical need, you should do something about it. This is a prisoner. He doesn’t have the ability to go to a doctor if he wants. He’s in their custody and he’s in their care.”
According to a civil complaint, Flannery was a passenger in a vehicle that was involved in a traffic stop on May 14, 2013. Police discovered an outstanding warrant for Flannery’s arrest. He was taken into custody and brought to the Pennsylvania State Police Barracks at Fern Ridge.
Flannery had been staying at the home of Charles Carroll and Police got a warrant to search that home. They found a safe for which Flannery had the keys. In it, police found two bricks of heroin allegedly belonging to Flannery. He was charged with possession with the intent to deliver heroin and possession of heroin and drug paraphernalia.
He was transferred to the Carbon County Correctional Facility on May 15, 2013.
At the time of his arrest and booking, Flannery was withdrawing from heroin and was “dope sick,” according to the lawsuit.
Flannery admitted to drug use during a screening at the jail. The jail’s screener noted that Flannery was crying, rambling and deemed the him a suicide risk.
Flannery began vomiting.
The suit claims officials at the jail were aware that Flannery suffered from opiate addiction.
He received a medical examination the next day where he initially denied, then admitted using drugs. Records indicate that he had vomit on his hands, face and clothing, according to the suit. He was rambling, appeared nervous, and had a faster than normal resting heart rate, which is an indication of drug withdrawal the suit said.
The medical staff put a treatment plan into place to address his Percocet addiction, according to the suit.
Flannery’s father, Michael Flannery called the jail on May 15 and told the screening officer that his son went through rehab in 2012, admitted to using heroin, and that is son needed to see a doctor. The screening officer wouldn’t let Flannery visit since his son was acting erratic and was on suicide watch.
Michael Flannery continued to call the jail every day in an attempt to get his son help.
Meanwhile, the jail’s medical staff and correction officers on various shifts documented Lee Flannery’s deteriorating condition.
Since Flannery was classified as a suicide risk, corrections officers were looking in on him every 15 minutes.
“They were observing him,” Smarto said. “If you see that, you should at least have a doctor see him or put him in a hospital situation.”
By May 18, between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m., Flannery was vomiting almost every half hour, He told an officer he “didn’t feel so good,"asked for and received help taking his medications. Flannery had been crying and moaning throughout the afternoon and evening. Before the end of an 11 p.m. shift, officers said he also complained of stomach pain.
Late in the evening, during a strip search, an officer said Flannery had been uncooperative when asked to perform simple tasks, refusing to get up out of his bunk and take medicine.
A video from the correctional facility showed Flannery, unsteady on his feet, in his underwear wrapped in a blanket, being helped from his cell to a bathroom for the search. The video also showed a corrections officer retrieving a vomit-soiled blanket from Flannery’s cell.
Flannery vomited again in the bathroom and another vomit-soaked blanket was removed by an officer. The video showed Flannery being escorted out in an “extremely weakened state,” according to the suit. A corrections officer said that Flannery “appeared to have gotten weaker,” and was heard moaning while the remaining cell searches were completed.
He was found unresponsive the next morning at 5:15 a.m. during a routine block check. Flannery had no pulse and was not breathing.
Despite resuscitation efforts, he was pronounced dead at 6:45 a.m.
“He was dehydrated, malnourished, and if he was seen by a physician and had some fluids replaced, he would have been fine. Instead he deteriorated right in front of their eyes,” Smarto said.
The suit claims Carbon County, the correctional facility and employees were indifferent to Lee Flannery’s medical needs, failed to provide adequate medical treatment to an inmate, and allowed him to suffer until he died from a treatable condition.
The jail’s own records showed Flannery never saw a medical doctor during his incarceration, nor did he see any medical personnel in the two days prior to his death, the suit alleges.
“Those facts that we put in there are all from their records,” Smarto said. “None were contrived by some lawyer trying to make a case.”
The lawsuit also accuses the Carbon County Correctional Facility of developing “a policy, practice and custom of deliberate indifference to the medical needs of its inmates in order to save money on inmate care.” It also charges the facility of withholding life-threatening medical care from inmates.
The suit accuses the facility of deliberate indifference, cruel and inhuman punishment, failure to provide proper medical care and wrongful death.
Carbon County Commissioner William J. O’Gurek, when asked about the suit, said, “It being a lawsuit, it’s not something I can’t really comment on nor can the members of the prison board.”
Copyright 2015 the Pocono Record