Bad Medicine----medical neglect is part of the punishment at the Salt Lake County jail.

Despite big bills for prisoner health care, some claim medical neglect is part of the punishment at the Salt Lake County jail. A night in the slammer isn’t supposed to be a picnic. But prisoners with serious medical conditions at least should be able to take their meds. At the Salt Lake County jail, that isn’t always happening, according to two recent guests. Jim Denier, an epileptic, landed at Salt Lake County jail early last month after he was picked up on an outstanding warrant. He eventually got his anti-seizure medicine, but not until he’d had two seizures and jail staff had punished him with a week’s worth of 24-hour lockdown for “faking” a medical condition. “I told the male nurse, ‘Why would I want to fall on my mouth and cause bleeding to get my medicine?’” Denier recalled. “He said, ‘People do it all the time, asshole.’” Joe Koncurat claims a similar experience. His multiple sclerosis is obvious, since he walks with crutches. Arrested in August for a string of unpaid traffic tickets, mostly expired tags, he was provided jail-issue crutches and a nurse’s note for a bottom bunk when he was booked. But Koncurat also wanted a jail cell equipped for the handicapped, one with metal bars so he could help himself on and off the toilet. He was told at admission that all the handicapped cells were taken, but he’d be put in one as soon as possible. Fifty-four days and three cell moves later, Koncurat had finally raised bail and left jail, but he claims he never saw a handicapped cell. “These people are evil,” he said of his time in jail. “They just treat you like you are a piece of garbage. They say, ‘Well, if you don’t want this to happen to you, don’t come to jail.’” Which may be a valid point, except that courts have ruled even prisoners should get their meds. A jail’s failure to provide medical treatment in some cases has been seen as a violation of the Constitution’s ban on “cruel and unusual” punishment. No court, for example, sentenced Denier to seizures. Sheriff Aaron Kennard said the jail is in no danger of failing the constitutional test. He is quick to defend what amounts to a mini-hospital that he runs inside the jail. The county jail has a large in-house medical staff and its own clinics, exam rooms, dental office, pharmacy and medical laboratory. All incoming prisoners are screened by one of 68 registered staff nurses. Doctors visit daily. Kennard scoffs at the notion his office would deny a prisoner a needed prescription given the fact that he shells out huge chunks of his budget on drugs. He recently asked the Salt Lake County Council for an extra $600,000 to cover unanticipated medical expenses, including $300,000 spent on two prisoners with significant health problems. “Anybody coming in, we ask them what meds they’re on. We have a pharmacy on campus,” he said. “We also make it a habit of sending them out the door with enough to get them through the next week, especially with the mental-health drugs,” Kennard said. “It costs us a bundle of money.” Kennard said he could not believe a prisoner requiring a handicapped cell would be denied one. “My people know full well I am not going to let the county get into a potential suit by not handling the medical needs of individuals,” he said. Chief Deputy Rollin Cook, who is in charge of the jail, said Denier received his medicine as soon as possible after necessary pharmacy checks to ensure Denier needed the drugs he asked for. The jail’s doctor determined the drugs Denier was taking stayed in the bloodstream for at least one week, so missing a day wouldn’t cause harm, Cook said. As for Koncurat, Cook said he was, in fact, provided a handicapped cell on at least two occasions during his stay, even though he didn’t qualify for one. The jail provides handicapped cells only to prisoners in wheelchairs. Denier’s lawyer, Sharla Dunroe of the Salt Lake Legal Defender Association, said she thinks her client was a victim of overworked jail staff who have trouble separating prisoners with real medical complaints from the many fakers. Dunroe is currently representing a second client with a similar complaint. The prisoner, who is missing part of a lung, inhaled spray used to quiet a prisoner in a neighboring cell. He’s had a cough since but claims he was denied medical help, she said. “The jail encounters a number of people who don’t like to take responsibility for their actions, who are whiny, complaining about whatever they can find to complain about,” Dunroe said. “But there are a handful of people who have very legitimate medical concerns and are just overlooked. I think Jim was one of them.” Denier was arrested Sept. 9 on a warrant charging he telephoned his ex-wife several times in violation of a no-contact order. He said he quickly asked for anti-seizure medicine, but that just seemed to make his jailers angry. After 24 hours, he had his first seizure. He had a second within the next 12 hours. Jail medical teams were called and accused him of faking. He was written up and sent to a disciplinary hearing. A jail report summarizing that hearing says a nurse determined Denier’s recovery was suspiciously quick. Denier was punished by losing privileges for TV, telephone and visitors, and by being placed on “double lock-up”—which Denier said meant 24-hour lockdown—for seven days. County jail rules provide that prisoners can be disciplined if they “abuse health services” by making requests for unneeded health services. Denier concedes he received his medicine after 36 hours. He also acknowledged the jail provided him access to mental-health services. Still, Denier isn’t willing to just put his experience behind him. He has filed a complaint about his treatment with the sheriff’s office. “I was flabbergasted. It was just a nightmare, like The Outer Limits,” he said. “They just weren’t going to accept the fact that I had epilepsy.”