Medical treatment at jail under fire from former detainee

Hudson County jail in Kearny.(Journal file photo)

Attorneys for an immigrant originally from the Dominican Republic are the latest to lob accusations of shoddy medical care at the Hudson County jail and urge the county to make "broad changes" to a facility that has seen at least six inmate deaths in the last three years.

The man, identified by the lawyers as a John Doe in his 40s, spent 17 months detained at the jail starting in November 2014 and received "inadequate" medical treatment until 12 months into his stay, when doctors found he had a cancerous rectal mass, his lawyers said.

The man was released from detention in April 2016 without his medical history, his lawyers said, leaving him unable to obtain chemotherapy treatment for more than a month. He has stage four rectal cancer, they say.

The details of the man's case are revealed in a letter New York Lawyers for the Public Interest -- a nonprofit that represents the man -- sent Wednesday to County Executive Tom DeGise, the county freeholder board and officials with the jail and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The county has a controversial agreement with ICE to house immigrants at the Kearny jail.

"Mr. Doe's experience is not isolated, and is instead typical of endemic deficiencies in the medical care at Hudson County Correctional," the letter reads.

CFG Health Systems, which the county hired to provide medical services for inmates, also received the letter. The county awarded the company a five-year, $29.4 million contract in December 2016.

The new allegations surfaced three days after prison officials say they found a 34-year-old woman hanging in her cell and that a 41-year-old male inmate collapsed and died. The woman died Tuesday at Jersey City Medical Center.

A county spokesman declined to comment on the letter. Anthony Vainieri, chair of the freeholder board, on Wednesday said he hadn't read it yet. Requests for comment from ICE and CFG were not returned.

Maureen Belluscio and Marinda van Dalen, attorneys for New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, spoke to The Jersey Journal by phone about their client's allegations. The group said he is not filing a lawsuit "for a variety of reasons" but wanted his lawyers to write the letter to call attention to jail conditions.

The man is a lawful permanent resident who lives in New York, according to his lawyers.

He was detained on Nov. 25, 2014, because of what they called an "ongoing" immigration proceeding. Jail officials knew he is HIV-positive, his lawyers said, a diagnosis that leaves him with a compromised immune system and an elevated risk of developing other illnesses.

The man alleges medical staff at the jail diagnosed him with hemorrhoids in January 2015 after he complained of pain but they did not "provide follow-up" or rule out other illnesses related to his symptoms, his lawyers said. For the next year he complained about bleeding, swelling in his feet and ankles, fatigue and numbness, but jail officials provided no treatment or screening, they said.

In January 2016, the man was sent to an East Orange hospital following a physical exam, and that's when doctors found the cancerous mass, according to his lawyers.

The man had a surgical procedure on April 7, 2016, to have a Mediport installed that would have allowed him to receive chemotherapy, according to his lawyers.

Five days later he was suddenly released from the jail "with no plan for continuity of care or any information regarding how to maintain the Mediport already in his body," the Jan. 17 letter says.

Following his release, the man sought medical treatment at two hospitals but was denied because he did not have medical records proving his need for emergency care, his lawyers said. He began chemotherapy on May 16, 2016, they said.

"It was only because he had an immigration attorney that he was able to get those records," van Dalen said.

The man's lawyers are recommending the county improve the health care it provides inmates, provide discharge planning for inmates with serious medical conditions, ensure a "reasonable" wait time between the request for medical care and a medical visit, and more.

Following two inmate deaths last summer, the county convened a committee to review activities at the jail and make recommendations for changes. Immigration advocates have criticized the county for not implementing independent oversight.
Vainieri told The Jersey Journal the county is "on top" of the issues at the jail.

"We've had committee meetings. We put together a committee. We're moving a little bit. We're waiting for reports from everybody," he told The Jersey Journal.

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