The family of a mentally ill man found dead inside an Arkansas jail wants its staff to be held accountable.
In a federal lawsuit filed on Jan. 13, the family of Larry Eugene Price Jr., 51, says Sebastian County Jail officers and the jail’s medical provider neglected to address his worsening health, causing him to die from dehydration and malnutrition.
“Everybody in a jail is entitled to basic medical care. Everybody knew how sick he was,” said Hank Balson, an attorney representing Price’s family.
Rodney Price filed the lawsuit on behalf of his deceased brother’s estate against Turn Key Health, the company’s psychiatrist Dr. Jawaun Lewis, Sebastian County, a jail nurse, and other unnamed defendants.
“There is no excuse for an atrocity like this to happen to a mentally ill man in an American jail. None,” attorneys for the family said in the lawsuit.
Larry Price had a history of mental illness and homelessness and had repeat encounters with Fort Smith law enforcement officers. A year before his death, Price walked into a Fort Smith Police Department station and began acting “irrationally” by cursing at officers incoherently the lawsuit says. After refusing to leave the police station, officers arrested him.
Balson said Larry Price’s family “were aware of his homelessness and disability.”
Balson says Larry Price had an aunt who would check on him occasionally but because Price “gets antsy” he would leave his aunt’s home.
Once at the Sebastian County Jail, Larry Price was charged with terroristic threats, and his bond was set for $1,000. Since Price could not afford the $100 — 10 percent of his issued bond — he was jailed.
Balson claims Price’s aunt and brother were unaware of his bail situation because jail staff would not share information related to his incarceration with them. He went on to say because Rodney Price was a former correctional officer, he felt Larry Price would be safer in jail…
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