Autopsy finds mentally ill inmate's death an accident

Theresa Vaughn hoped learning what caused her son's death would ease her grief.

It didn't.

Her 21-year-old son, Timothy Joe Souders, a mentally ill prison inmate, died Aug. 6 from hyperthermia and dehydration after he was shackled to a bed for most of four days during a heat wave, an autopsy confirmed.

Oakland County Medical Examiner Ruben Ortiz-Reyes, who conducted the autopsy for the Jackson County medical examiner, said Souders died from the heat and related complications, including dehydration, while confined in a segregation cell in the Jackson prison complex. Souders had a large open sore on his back, Ortiz-Reyes noted, apparently caused by lying in his own urine.

"Truthfully, it was a big disappointment to know it was such a completely avoidable death," Vaughn said. "I thought there would be some kind of peace, that just having answers could relieve some of the pain, but it doesn't. Every night when I go to bed, I see Timothy. Every morning, he's the first thing I think of."

Vaughn, of Adrian, said Gov. Jennifer Granholm called her Monday to express her condolences.

When she urged Granholm to reform prison conditions to avoid future deaths, the governor said she will await the results of an independent investigation she ordered before deciding if changes are needed, Vaughn said.

"I don't see how at this point anybody can say 'if needed,"' said Vaughn, who has been a proponent for prison reform since her son's death.

Granholm's spokeswoman, Liz Boyd, confirmed the governor will await the investigation of prison health care before deciding "what shape those reforms will take.

"Certainly, the governor is committed to assuring prisoners are treated humanely," Boyd said.

The investigation, ordered in August, has not begun. State Corrections Department spokesman Russ Marlan said an independent organization, which he declined to name, has been selected to conduct a broad examination of health care in the prisons.

That investigation is one of three prompted by Souders' death. The Corrections Department's internal probe determined a prison nurse was derelict of duty for failing to send Souders to the hospital and allowing the inhumane treatment. That nurse has been suspended since Aug. 12, Marlan said, and could face further discipline, including termination.

A second employee, a physician's assistant at the Duane Waters Hospital inside the prison, was cited for failing to record information about Souders on his medical chart, but that employee remains on the job, Marlan said.

A third investigation is being conducted by Michigan State Police at the Jackson post, now that the autopsy report has been completed. Post Commander Lt. James Shaw said such an inquisition is routine when an inmate dies, and it does not necessarily mean criminal charges will be filed.

U.S. District Judge Richard Enslen, in issuing an order this month prohibiting the Corrections Department from using four-point restraints as punishment, suggested someone should be charged criminally for Souders' death.

The autopsy confirmed Souders "received the death penalty for the crime of being mentally ill in the Michigan prison system," said Elizabeth Alexander, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project, which represents the inmates in the federal lawsuit. "No other prisoner should suffer his fate."
http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-5/116412394336740.xml&coll=8

Please read and sign the following two petitions, if you agree:

No more Tortured Americans in US Prisons:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/993275606
Justice and parity for mentally and/or physically ill prison inmates:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/577496396