On Friday, April 16, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Amy Sekany ordered the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) to transfer Santa Rita Jail prisoner Randy Harris to Kaiser Permanente in Oakland. Judge Sekany issued this order in response to Mr. Harris’s urgent medical needs. Mr. Harris has reported excruciating and immobilizing pain for the past six months and medical experts have determined that he requires an outpatient consultation to assess if surgery is needed. Even though the order instructed Santa Rita Jail to transport Mr. Harris “forthwith” (immediately), ACSO never transported Mr. Harris to Kaiser. On Saturday, April 17, Captain Donald Mattison informed Mr. Harris’s Public Defender that County Counsel intends to appear in court to oppose Mr. Harris’s hospital appointment. Mr. Harris “should have the opportunity to discuss potential treatments with an orthopedic surgeon or neurosurgeon to determine a clear plan of action,” wrote Dr. William Weber, an emergency physician, in a declaration to the court. “I am very concerned that the combination of Mr. Harris’ chronic health conditions and substandard pain control he has received at Santa Rita Jail could leave him in severe pain and put him at risk of further injury if he continues to be incarcerated at the facility.” On October 3, 2020, Mr. Harris suffered a serious spinal injury when he fell down a flight of stairs in Santa Rita Jail. Mr. Harris, who suffers from grand mal seizures, repeatedly requested to be housed in a lower-tier cell prior to his fall. Multiple deputies allegedly responded to this request that it would be “too much work” to move Mr. Harris; telling him, “have a seizure, then we’ll talk.” For the past six months, Mr. Harris has been treated with nothing but a regimen of acetaminophen (Tylenol) for his spinal injury. Not only have medical experts found Mr. Harris’s treatment to be ineffective, but Mr. Harris has expressed that the level of constant pain he experiences has caused him to contemplate suicide. Mr. Harris has already been to Highland Hospital per Judge Sekany’s order; Highland subsequently recommended that he see a specialist. The Friday, April 16 order would have transported Mr. Harris to Kaiser for an outpatient appointment with an orthopedic surgeon, but ACSO and County Counsel oppose even this basic measure for Mr. Harris’s health. Attorneys and advocates have consistently argued that ACSO’s deficient medical care amounts to cruel and unusual punishment of all incarcerated people; and further that it violates the Fourteenth Amendment rights of pretrial detainees who constitute the majority of people incarcerated in the jail. In August 2020, a series of phone campaigns organized by Oakland Abolition & Solidarity highlighted the experiences of Santa Rita Jail Hotline callers experiencing medical neglect; including Robert Abeyta, who suffers from sleep apnea and was deprived of a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine for the sole reason that he could not afford the thousand-dollar device while incarcerated. The issue of medical neglect in Santa Rita Jail was further intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic. Incarcerated people have consistently reported that the care they receive when infected with the coronavirus amounts to solitary confinement in filthy conditions. People who become infected are only provided with Tylenol for their symptoms and are forced to fight for comfort care as basic as an extra blanket. The increased use of solitary confinement has also taken a toll on individuals’ mental health: on Friday, April 2, an incarcerated person took their own life, the second person to do so in 2021. ACSO and Wellpath have used COVID-19 not only to deploy further restrictions against incarcerated people but to avoid transparency and accountability regarding the mental health impacts of prolonged isolation. Advocates argue that the psychological torture of incarcerated people is now being justified through the science of infection control.
The National Lawyers Guild – SF Bay Area Chapter is holding a press conference and calling for a week of action around the issue of medical neglect in Santa Rita Jail.
Tuesday, April 20: Press Conference @ 8:30am Moderator - Jen Orthwein, Medina Orthwein LLP/National Lawyers Guild
Panelists - Lina García-Schmidt, Santa Rita Jail Hotline Coordinator
- Yolanda Huang, civil rights attorney
- Robert Abeyta, formerly-incarcerated in Santa Rita Jail
- Jose Bernal, Ella Baker Center and Decarcerate Alameda County
Wednesday, April 21: County counsel appears in court to oppose Judge Sekany’s order Thursday, April 22: Fax, and email to ACSO, Board of Supervisors, and County Counsel Friday, April 23: Phone calls to ACSO and County Counsel |
