As an experienced Westchester Civil Rights Attorney I am often asked about safeguarding inmates while they are in custody. In the White Plains, NY, sometimes, you might find yourself in a situation where you have been subject to arrest and you are not have yet to be arraigned and you are considered a pretrial detainee at that point. It may be after an arraignment that you are now pending a hearing and after being convicted of a charge you are confined in prison for a certain sentence or a term. Under those circumstances when you are in the custody and control of a prison guard there is a certain level of duty that these officials have to safeguard your health. Those forms of safeguarding can take any number of variations. For example, providing you with medication that you may need because of diabetes or providing you with medication that you may have because of some psychiatric diagnosis. It may be in the form of providing you with medical care while you are in the prison officials custody. It also could involve an inmate who comes into a facility as a suicide risk, and often times it’s not known that family members on the outside who are concerned for this persons safety because they do pose a suicide risk.
Prison officials have a duty to safeguard that inmate from harm inflicted by the inmate on himself. Attorneys at Gould & Berg LLP in White Plains, New York, unfortunately, had a very serious case several years ago where a young male died in prison by suicide and the outcome of course is detrimental to the family. The issue in that case is, what screening was done to determine whether the inmate was a risk to himself and whether those screening results were actually adhered to by the prison officials in a way that was in compliance with both federal law as well as New York states standard. So, the net of these areas is something where we get calls from not the inmate himself or herself but from the family members who are concerned about the safety of that inmate and what can be done to protect that inmate.
Is a family member of your’s an inmate that was injured in prison? If so, contact experienced Westchester Civil Rights Attorney Kim Berg for advice.
This informational blog post was provided by Kim Berg, an experienced White Plains Civil Rights Attorney.
