Jail COVID-Testing Scandal Casts a Dark, Morbid Shadow on Government & Election In Nevada
By: Penn Little
Tags: News, Politics, Covid 19, Criminal Justice, Election 2020

Well, if you read that particular ‘right,’ which simply states, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted,” I challenge you to find an argument that suggests such housing doesn’t constitute a cruel and unusual punishment for (a largely) non-convicted group of individuals.

This is because, as Turenne, the proverbial CCDC encyclopedia, claims that the North Tower (cells, not dorms) is “where the bad boys like murderers, armed robbers, and such are housed.” And, Alloway chimed in, “That’s the Hole! Man!”

Ironically, had we been placed there and received a properly administered COVID-19 test inclusive of the brutal brain-poke, it would be likely unanimously considered constitutional by any jurist.

The windows are small and restrictive; however, they allow sunlight and a limited, albeit clear view of Fremont Street to serve as a blessing and a curse. This was a place that no non-violent accused resident would ever visit until COVID-19 came upon us. And it sucks the life out of you…all for someone’s benefit.

A benefit must be present for needless placement in an area that segregates men from officers (or medical attention) by at least three walls, two heavily locked doors, heavy glass, and, in most cases, stairs. Hypothetically, if an inmate had a heart attack in quarantine on the North block, a highly trained U.S. Navy SEAL would likely take at least five minutes to plow through the barriers before having a chance at resuscitation.

Myself, Turenne, Alloway, and Paredes comprised the most southwesterly quad of bunks at the point farthest from the officer station. So, we all had plenty of time to discuss the housing situation that seemed a bit like overkill if all the tests are negative.

Deprivation of Tylenol Without Due Process

When doing so, I recalled the night prior (my last in the quarantine hole). Still purportedly uncertain of why he was booked, my cellmate was admittedly detoxing from heavy opioid use in front of my very eyes. Of course, when asking an officer with the surname Torres for ibuprofen at 3:15 a.m. after being delivered our breakfast on September 29th, I was shocked at the response. Torres denied the request. In fact, he stated, “Hell no. You’ll get what you get when I say you get it.”

Inmate chatter suggested that many detox drugs (even OTC drugs like ibuprofen) provoke false-positive COVID tests. However, I didn’t believe that to be the case since I’ve found no empirical evidence to support such claims. However, the intimidation seemed unfounded. It then sparked more curiosity when a shouting match that peaked with my celly (an African American male) being asked by the Latino officer,

“What the (expletive) did you get arrested for — standing on the corner drinking Mickey’s, you dumb-ass? You get what you get when I say you get it, you honkey-ass bitch, now shut the (expletive) up.”

More racial slurs went back and forth, threats of physical violence ensued, then — finally, it was back to sleep…

Additionally and oddly, in that same timeframe, I was COVID-19 tested at least three of the 13 times while being “re-fingerprinted” due to “computer error.” This occurred with various other inmates at different random times. To me, such activity indicated a poor way of attempting to provide a rationale for further COVID-19 tests, which lacked the invasivity to be considered effective.

Once in the dorm, the last stop for long-term jail housing, I was sure something was up with those COVID tests. I knew the deprivation of medication and shortened detox tapers were new problems. Related or not, they both seemed out of sorts.

According to Alloway,

“Man the state be makin money of the feds left and right, they’re bull*&*^ tests. However, negative tests are ‘bank,’ and we are in jail. Ain’t no matter if we get COVID or not, it still sucks. And if we die, yeah, we turn from a man to a man in a bag, yo. No one cares.”

And let’s give Alloway credit; Sisolak himself said in June,

The comprehensive effort will be funded primarily through federal support allocated to the state through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) fund approved through Congress, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Capacity grant funds from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as reimbursement through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Public Assistance Program.

SNHD Bureaucrats Meet Wellpath Profiteers

It doesn’t appear to be the “feds” or local and state governments serving as sole beneficiaries of CCDC’s wonky (as well as, should I say, deadly?) healthcare as of late. While the testing is wonky, the care is the deadly part. The Southern Nevada Health District administers the tests, yet a big private company actually handles the care, medicating, resuscitating, and/or replacement for “police contact” in medical emergencies. The healthcare contractor CCDC utilizes was the subject of a 2019 probe by The Atlantic, which suggests it’s becoming an arguable monopoly. This would place them in the same categories as other peers backed by private equity seeking to reduce costs (to appease their investors) while the U.S. healthcare for-profit system is hemorrhaging money and is on life support.

And speaking of the feds, they are allegedly probing the founder of that particular provider, Wellpath, for fraud. The fraud allegation comes from the non-profit watchdog group: The Private Equity Stakeholder Project. That particular 501(c)3, has published a separate, discouraging report about Wellpath’s practices, solvency, and abuse of patients/inmates.

Nonetheless, when they took over CCDC care in 2019, their announcement on Facebook.com stated:

Wellpath proudly welcomes our new healthcare partners, the Clark County Detention Center & North Valley Complex in Las Vegas, Nevada. We put our patients first and look forward to providing compassionate care of the highest quality to them.

The cutback-care at CCDC is consistent with many other private equity-charged firms and the results thereof. That 2019 probe, penned by investigative journalist Marsha McCloud, suggests CCDC’s healthcare provider/contractor is being subjected to profiteering pitfalls that have corresponded with declines in quality care nationally. McCloud’s in-depth analysis suggests Wellpath is:

privatizing huge swaths of jail operations, but they are doing so quietly. Wellpath presents itself as a ‘healthcare company caring for under-served patients’ and writes on its website that it’s not in the ‘business of incarceration.’

McCloud then poses a question:

But is a jail still a public institution if key decision-makers are employees of a private equity-backed company beholden to its investors?

Private equity investment firms have seen major losses in the healthcare sector, as they sit on the edge of the proverbial cliff. Miami-based H.I.G. acquired Wellpath, and the firm has helped Wellpath buy-up smaller companies as they’ve grown far beyond the status of being the nation’s largest resource for jailhouse pill-doling. H.I.G.’s website states the company is the “leading provider of outsourced correctional and behavioral healthcare services to jail, prison, and other behavioral care facilities.”

In the 2012 election leadup, author Art Levine wrote a similar article in Salon.com about deaths appearing as collateral damage of this type of business model. Levine discussed the sad truth resulting from the healthcare investments of Bain Capital (a fund like H.I.G.). The article, called “The Dark Side of a Bain Success,” made waves in the 2012 election homestretch.

On October 26th, 2020, a report was released by Reuters, stating Wellpath and similar companies are not improving care behind bars. The report did a multi-year, comprehensive collection of data that concluded: “overall, facilities with care managed by the biggest jail medical providers had 17 deaths per 10,000 inmates, compared to 13 deaths in publicly-run units.”

The report also cited one of those private provider executives claiming “what statistics can’t explain, and many in public do not know, is that the first day ‘behind bars’ for most of our patients is the first time they receive essential medications, medical care, and behavioral healthcare.”

Did He Mean to Say “Dollars in Front of Lives”?

While that recent Reuters report, The Atlantic, and the 2012 article all predicate their importance on apparent “Profit-over-Patient” healthcare models, that is not something the Nevada governor claims is his “style.” In April, Sisolak justified COVID countermeasures by saying, “I’m putting lives ahead of dollars.”

However, I can respect Sisolak’s aim as we explore areas that may help us opine if that is his style or simply a statement. The results certainly reflect the latter.

On Saturday, October 10th, I spoke with Turenne again (who at that time was housed at an auxiliary Clark County lockup situated near Nellis Air Force Base after being relocated on the evening of October 7th) via the recorded inmate phone system.

He contacted me, and I reminded him I’m a journalist, and the system is recorded. Once he gave consent to continue and use his name in the article, I informed him of the two deaths. The 20-year heavy drug abuser (and lifetime platinum rewards member if CDCC was a Marriott) agreed that four confirmed detox deaths and six total (in six months) are an extreme outlier, and that is in comparison to the “dozens” of times he’s detoxed at CCDC.

Turenne added:

“This time, they disregarded anything you said, and kept throwing you in the side cell (c2 and c3) and delayed my booking process because the lack of medical care led to severe fatigue. I didn’t get the same medication or care as I did in the past. Actually, not even a third of it, I’d say.”

He also claimed,

“Same as you, they cut me off my Librium in only four days and would deny requests for a proper taper.”

I personally requested an extension of Librium treatment on October 2nd by using a “kite.” It was returned as denied on October 5th, and it also suggested that I “drink more water.”

This leads us to the 38-year-old female’s death…

Turenne, the undoubted “insider,” and I know that the NBC 3 report relies on inaccurate information that only an insider would be able to know for sure, so I asked him. He said, “If her time of death and booking time is what that NBC report says, then she was certainly in the holding cells, and not in quarantine (the Hole) in North Block.”

Then, frustration and sadness were apparent (and I orally felt his empathetic pain) when he said, “It was probably her first time in. And, you know, no one knows where the water fountain (is situated) in the holding tanks.”

Lastly, Turenne claimed, “I’ve come off heroin a lot in this hellhole, and done so many times. However, this time around, it’s been like getting ripped off heroin and thrown in a lion’s den.”

This is saddening to us both due to the following:

Opioid withdrawal is only lethal if basic sleep, hydration, or nutrition is absent. This is in stark contrast to the same process as it pertains to an alcoholic or heavy benzodiazepine (Xanax/valium, etc.) user’s withdrawals, which also requires certain medication dosages corresponding to the level of use to avoid certain death.

The water fountain is attached to the toilet (where, in those tanks, they’re adorned with a layer of constant vomit). Also, you can’t talk to the officer at will. There’s a call button that, unless used in a “medical emergency,” even lightly toggling the doorbell-like alert, will catalyze a heavy consequence.

Turenne was suffering when they ended his Librium taper rather abnormally (and inhumanely) early on day four. He feared a seizure could kill him, too. He was certain that “why?” could only be found by tracking a money trail.

As for the Librium, the jail very well may have cut back on proper medication and oversight of detox symptoms. At the surface, one would believe this penal facility to be best in class when it comes to combating COVID, yet, if this were true, they’re horribly out of touch with simpler medical issues they’ve had far more experience in treating, as evidenced by the plethora of deaths “from detoxification.”

I always knew this would involve substantial research of the allegedly questionable chain of funds. It wasn’t an unplanned process. It’s central to any investigative report. It’s always about the money trail. I had no problem believing the constant inmate allegations that we, the accused guests of the CCDC, were cash cows in some form or fashion, to be true. I didn’t expect to know people confined to jail much longer than I had already discovered it.

And while the money trail takes tremendous amounts of work and ample amounts of time to yield results, various curious facts were present before I left.

Once I got back to a search engine, their simplicity revealed the most onerous part to be the previous two weeks: CCDC residents' allegations appearing to be very well-founded theories.

And the “big contradiction” that usually finalizes any inquisition was, in this case, simple as a leader saying “no” to something his constituency is desperate for. He was then irate when it was announced he would soon be deprived of money produced from COVID-19 treatment and testing: something that none of us want anyway!

The Numbers Game

Oddly, the jail can house nearly 3,700 people and is quite full, although not one COVID-19 death has been reported to be related to COVID. Of the 25 “in custody” deaths that have occurred in 2020, none list the word ‘COVID,’ ‘Coronavirus,’ or anything close.

The CCDC 2019 annual report suggests that inmates stay an average of 21 days. With an average population of 3,711, that means in 2020, 77,931 inmates should come and go, providing 17.38 turnover periods. Essentially, every 17 days and 9 hours, the population would be completely different. Then consider the incubation period of the virus, close quarters, and the seriousness of the ailment. Statistics in the Las Vegas MSA yield a 0.23% death rate for people who take a COVID-19 test (legitimate and illegitimate). However, factoring out age metrics and recent release provisions (so that LVMPD can ‘socially distance’ by releasing inmates at their discretion), the numbers are still well below what the national plethora of data say they should be.