Former prison lieutenant sentenced to 3 years after inmate dies during medical crisis

A former federal prison lieutenant was sentenced to three years in prison Tuesday after an inmate suffered a 30-hour medical crisis and died in what prosecutors said was a “completely preventable” tragedy.

Michael Anderson was the second-highest ranking officer at Petersburg Federal Correctional Institution in Virgina during the 2021 incident, where the inmate - who officials refused to publicly name - suddenly became ill, fell more than 15 times and died from blunt-force trauma to the head, according to court documents.

Several officers alerted the lieutenant to the person’s condition, but he failed to take action and later lied about what he knew, according to court documents.

“This inmate’s death was not the result of inadvertence or a lapse in judgment.” said Jessica Aber, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “His death was the completely preventable result of the deliberate choices made by the defendant, who knew he had the constitutional duty to provide medical care. Inmates are entitled to basic human dignity.”

Anderson, 52, pleaded guilty in July to one count of deprivation of rights under color of law. The Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General investigated the case.

At least three other prison employees, including a lieutenant, nurse and senior officer have been charged in the incident. Jessica Richardson, Anderson’s attorney, described the tragedy in court filings as a “collective failure of the staff” and said Anderson had taken responsibility for his part.

Prosecutors detail events leading to death

In the early morning hours of Jan. 9, 2021, the person, only identified as W.W., suddenly became sick with many troubling symptoms, including incoherence and inability to stand up, court filings said. Without receiving medical aid, the 47-year-old man repeatedly fell in his cell, often hitting the floor and walls. 

The person’s cellmate expressed concern to Anderson about his conditions, after which Anderson assured him the person would be checked, court records said. He did not alert medical staff or arrange an assessment, according to the documents.

At some point after Anderson’s shift ended at 2 p.m., another lieutenant went to the person’s cell and took him to the medical unit where a nurse assessed him, according to prosecutors. He was then taken to a locked, single-occupant suicide watch cell, where he was involuntary held for about 10 hours. Court documents did not say why he was transferred.

The next day at around 6:30 a.m., the person fell one last time and hit his head on the doorframe. He laid on the floor naked, covered in bruises and abrasions for nearly an hour and forty minutes before prison staff came to his cell, court documents said. 

By the time they arrived, the person was dead. An autopsy found he died from blunt force trauma to the head and suffered skull fractures and scalp hemorrhaging.

Anderson "had ample time over two shifts on two days to take any number of actions within his authority (and at no personal or professional cost to him) that would have saved W.W.’s life, most of which would have merely required him to make a phone call or use his radio. His criminal indifference led W.W. to die a slow, agonizing, and completely preventable death," prosecutors said in court filings.

Failure to help 'contributed significantly' to inmate's death

After the person’s death, Anderson wrote an official memorandum where he lied about his knowledge of the medical crisis, according to court documents. He said an officer had told him the person was “leaning against the wall looking a little faint,” though he’d been told the person had fallen. He also omitted his knowledge of the person's final fall on Jan. 10.

He repeated the claims in a voluntary, recorded interview with federal agents investigating the death before admitting in his guilty plea the statements were false.

“He failed by not prioritizing the seriousness of W.W.’s condition. He admits that he failed to provide any necessary assistance to W.W., and that his failure contributed significantly to the inmate’s death,” Richardson said in court documents. “He further admits that he minimized his failure to act in his official statement to the authorities, out of fear and shame for his actions.” 

Richardson did not immediately return USA TODAY’s request for comment Tuesday.

Over the approximately 30-hour incident, several people, including the person’s cellmate, prison officers and inmate suicide watch observers alerted supervisors of his condition and asked for their help.

“The defendant’s actions before and after W.W.’s death undermine public trust in corrections officers responsible for the care of persons in their custody,” prosecutors said in court filings.

Rights to healthcare in prison

In 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Estelle v. Gamble that ignoring a person’s serious medical needs while they were imprisoned could amount to cruel and unusual punishment, in violation of the Eighth Amendment.

However, corrections experts say claims of medical neglect and mistreatment of people with mental illness are a problem endemic to the U.S. penal system, which was never intended or equipped to deal with them.

In 44 states, a jail or prison holds more people with a mental illness than the largest remaining state psychiatric hospital, according to the Treatment Advocacy Center, a nonprofit that aims to eliminate barriers to treatment for people with mental illness. Research has found that people with serious mental health conditions were more likely to be victims of violence than to be violent themselves.

“Inmates entrusted to the care and custody of a correctional facility rely on correctional officials for basic healthcare, especially in a medical emergency,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s civil rights division. “The Justice Department will continue to hold correctional officials who blatantly disregard inmates’ serious medical needs accountable.”