After an inmate starves to death in Arkansas prison, officials point to failings

A man who died of starvation and dehydration in an Arkansas prison after spending a year in solitary confinement should have been hospitalized long before he was found emaciated and unconscious in his cell in August 2021, prison officials said in testimony as part of a lawsuit that resulted in a $6 million settlement for his family.

Newsweek revealed the circumstances of Larry Eugene Price Jr.'s death: he was emaciated, had shriveled hands and feet due to the stagnant water and urine in his prison cell, and was forced to eat his own feces. He had been locked up because he had no one to post a $100 bail bond.

Price's family agreed to a $6 million settlement Tuesday with Sebastian County, where he was incarcerated, and Turn Key Health Clinics, the Oklahoma City-based company that provides medical care at the prison. The parties, who admitted no wrongdoing, will each pay $3 million. Erik Heipt, the Price family's Seattle-based attorney, said it was the largest settlement in a prison death case in Arkansas history.

“We hope this historic result sends a strong message to all prisons and detention centers in America that this kind of blatant disregard for human life will not be tolerated,” he said.

“Newsweek's coverage of this case was thorough, excellent and detailed and contributed positively to exposing the atrocities,” Heipt added.

Newsweek reviewed hundreds of pages of witness testimony and expert reports prepared during the wrongful death trial.

The 51-year-old's suffering and death could only be compared to “cases of torture and non-consensual medical experiments under the Nazi government in World War II,” according to a report by emergency room physician Matthew DeLaney, an expert hired by the Price family's attorney to review the evidence in the case.

Price was often homeless, schizophrenic, and had an IQ below 55 when he was arrested and detained on August 19, 2020, for entering a small police station and pointing his fingers at officers as if they were guns while cursing and making threats. He was charged with making terroristic threats but never went to trial. The judge set bail at $1,000. He would have been released on $100 bail, but he was indigent.

The 6-foot-2 man lost weight from nearly 200 pounds to 120 pounds during his one-year and 10-day stay in the Sebastian County Jail.

“He was literally ignored to death,” Catherine A. Fontenot, a 30-year law enforcement expert, said in her report after analyzing the evidence for the family's civil lawsuit.

Turn Key and the Sebastian County Sheriff's Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Price' brother Rodney Price said Newsweek He was happy with the settlement, but thought every day about how much his brother had suffered. He expressed disappointment that no charges were brought against those responsible for Larry Eugene Price's care.

“I'm angry at the system for not taking responsibility from the beginning,” he said. “My brother's case is so frustrating. I just can't understand how anyone in America, in any prison, state or federal, can look like my brother. I mean, basically just skin and bones and no accountability from any public officials.”

Overcrowding and understaffing

The documents received Newsweek show that prison officials reported persistent overcrowding and understaffing. On the last day Price was alive, his prison wing was staffed by seven auxiliary correctional officers – 11 short of a full shift, according to a statement from the deputy warden.

They also confirmed that there was a lack of medical and mental health monitoring of inmates in solitary confinement. In addition, prison staff were generally inexperienced and lacked training and supervision, according to prison officials' statements.

“During Mr. Price's more than a year in custody, neither doctors nor psychiatrists conducted rounds of his life,” Fontenot wrote. “The practice of the Turn Key medical staff at the Sebastian County Jail did not include such rounds, nor did the county assign psychiatrists to do so. Consequently, the only people who regularly observed Mr. Price were detention officers with no medical or psychiatric training who simply checked for signs of life.”

Turn Key and prison officials said they had not thoroughly investigated the circumstances that led to Price's death.

When asked whether a thorough investigation was conducted to uncover possible policy violations, including interviewing those involved beyond the night of Larry's death, prison warden William Dumas said, “Obviously none of that was done.”

They also said few changes had been made to correct the problems that led to his death. The most important difference is that officials now bring mental health professionals to inmates in their cells rather than insisting that inmates go to them. No one was disciplined in this case.

“I find it shocking that the Sebastian County Jail has not conducted a serious investigation into Mr. Price's death,” Fontenot wrote. “As a jail warden, this is almost beyond my comprehension.”

Dumas and Deputy Warden Wyatt Wilson McIntyre, in response to questions during testimony, said Price required psychiatric care beyond what the prison could or would provide, that he was not suitable for incarceration and that the prison did not have the facilities necessary to safely house him.

When asked if there was a problem with understaffing and overcrowding in the days before Price's death and if the prison had become a dangerous place at that time, McIntyre said, “Yes.”

When asked if he ever tried to find out if this dangerous situation played a role in Price's death, he said, “No.” He later said that the entire prison staff did nothing to investigate how and why the death occurred.

The prison medical examiner's affidavit states that he stopped treating Price after it became apparent that he was refusing to take his antipsychotic medication. In addition, correctional officials never contacted medical and psychiatric staff when Price's dramatic weight loss was noted, even though he had asked for help and stated that he was feeling ill and had lost weight.

When asked to answer “yes” or “no” to a series of questions about possible improvements made by Turn Key, Dr. Jawuan Lewis, Turn Key's director of psychiatry, said that other than requiring Turn Key to address mental health in addition to psychiatric medication management, no changes had been made. Specifically, he was asked whether there had been changes in the way mentally ill inmates who could not eat or drink were treated; whether there had been changes in the way psychotic patients were treated in solitary confinement; or whether there had been changes in the care of patients who refused medication. Each time, he answered “no.” His one visit to Larry Eugene Price lasted less than five minutes, according to prison cell logs.

Psychotic, delusional and disinterested

Lewis also said that he knew Price had active psychosis, delusions and disinterest, and that he also knew Price was not taking his medication regularly. However, he made no effort to have Price transferred to a more appropriate facility and never contacted him again even after Price was discontinued from antipsychotic medication approximately nine months before his death.

Lewis said he assumed that another company was conducting the regular checks and that he himself was not responsible for administering the psychotropic drugs.

Price's family has been unable to contact him because the prison requires inmates to put friends and family on a list for calls and visits. Price, who suffered from acute psychosis, was unable to navigate the bureaucratic process, his brother said.

The official cause of death was malnutrition and dehydration, and the manner of death was listed as natural in the autopsy report. The investigation was conducted by the Arkansas State Police, which typically handles deaths in prisons. All investigative materials were forwarded to the Sebastian County District Attorney, with no comment from the State Police on whether charges should be filed. Sources in the State Police said this is standard practice. The District Attorney wrote to the Arkansas State Police on January 5, 2022, that there was no basis to prosecute anyone or any facility in this case.

The lawsuit, filed in the Western District of Arkansas, sought compensatory and punitive damages under state and federal law for Price's suffering and death, as well as for the grief and suffering of his family.

Heipt said Americans are typically horrified when they hear about prisoner mistreatment in North Korea, China and other countries, “but when it happens in our own backyard, it doesn't seem to generate the same outrage. I think it's time for America to look in the mirror and start paying attention and confronting the atrocities that are happening here on our own soil.”

Rodney Price said his brother deserves to be remembered for who he really was.

“He was very loving,” Rodney Price said. “He wanted to be loved. … He loved to dance. He loved to be with his family. He was my big brother.”