Illness & Delegation at the LCDC

 

Delegation of duties? We might as well say it: It's a crap shoot. Almost anyone can pretend to care and be competent during the two or three interviews it takes to get a job at McDonald's...or the Lauderdale County Detention Center. If you're 19 and can present a good image, you'll get the job as "corrections officer" at the LCDC.

Now comes the hard part. Reporting? The officer will report to some sort of shift leader who will report to assistant head of the LCDC (think Vicky White) who will report to the head who will report to the sheriff. So is the sheriff to blame if an officer four levels below him whom he's never even seen really mucks it up?

Here's a tragic story where everything went wrong, and no one seemed to be doing their job:

Scottie Davis suffered a stroke while in the Lauderdale County Alabama Detention Center @ approximately 2:30 am on September 24 2018. According to Detention Center reports, corrections officers contacted the Detention Center nurse Kylie Jones at home and informed her that Scottie had fell and possibly injured his right shoulder and he only grunts. The report states nurse Jones told the Corrections officers to place Scottie in a holding cell and monitor him until she got to work which they did at 3:00 am. Upon arrival at the Detention Center at approximately 6:00 am, nurse Kylie Jones is observed on video checking Scottie's vital signs and his right shoulder, and when Scottie is spoken to, he just grunts. She then leaves. 

At between 6:00 am and 6:30 am, Scottie can be seen on video getting up and trying to get someone's attention at the door of the holding cell and attempts to balance himself against the wall with his left arm because he can't use his right arm and has only partial use of his right leg. He then looses his balance and falls across the room against the wall. After a while he gets back up and attempts to make it to toilet but falls and hits head on the toilet. (This is being monitored in the control room of the Detention Center). 

Nurse Kylie Jones along with Corrections officers are in and out checking Scottie's vital signs during the day. Vicky White hasn't been seen or is not in the reports until 12:00 hrs, hours after Scottie was placed in the holding cell. At approximately 1:00 pm she entered the holding cell and checks on Scottie's condition and summons nurse Kylie Jones, and upon examination, Vicky White informs them that Scottie is being sent to the hospital.

This account from Scottie's father leaves many unanswered questions. We see fault from corrections officers, nurse, and assistant head of the facility. In other words, there's enough guilt to go around. 

So how do we make sure this never happens again?