A SC woman died 27 hours after she was hauled out of a hospital and taken to jail over unpaid court fines – and her family said she was denied water and medical care. Even though Curnell was vomiting “within minutes” of arriving at her cell at Charleston County jail, staffers failed to provide her with medical attention as advised by doctors at the hospital, according to court documents filed Wednesday against the jail’s medical contractor, Carolina Center for Occupational Health.
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Court documents show Curnell was placed in a housing unit, instead of being taken to the jail’s medical facility, and she was given a trash bag to vomit into because she was too weak to visit the restroom. Through methods the Post and Courier was not able to pin down, while there it “was discovered” that she owed $1,148 in fines to a court related to a 2011 shoplifting case. Bland had been pulled over in Texas for failing to signal a lane change; Curnell had been arrested on a bench warrant related to a shoplifting incident from four years earlier.
The newspaper reported Thursday afternoon that Curnell’s son, who is planning the lawsuit, notified law enforcement of the open warrant.
A statement made by the family’s attorney, James Moore, reads, “It is incomprehensible that in the year 2015, in the United States of America, we have members of our community suffering and dying from thirst and dehydration…Providing access to reasonable medical care to those under police custody is a necessity, not a privilege. It is a Constitutional right”.
It wouldn’t be until the following day after being hauled in that Joyce Curnell was found dead in her cell.
She had been receiving hydration from an IV at the hospital, but there are no records of staff at the jail giving her any medical treatment.
In Curnell’s death, the State Law Enforcement Division did an investigation and completed a report, SLED spokesman Thom Berry said. “If Ms. Curnell was denied medical treatment, then it is our position that her constitutional rights were violated”.
Curnell’s death represented one of at least six African American women who died nationwide in law enforcement custody in that month alone, raising the awkward question, would Joyce Curnell still be alive if she were a white woman?
A ‘March for Joyce Curnell’ is planned for Charleston on Friday morning.
Curnell was hydrated at the hospital, given medications and told to seek prompt medical attention if she continued to experience pain and vomiting.
In a nation without official debtors prison, Mr. Curnell died in jail because she owed the court money.
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The notice filed by the family claims Curnell wasn’t given fluids that could’ve saved her life, according to a doctor’s opinion.
