Courtland “Bookie” Lucas, 30, grew up in Wellston in a family of 14 children. He was a man who could see beauty in all things and write about it, said his sister, Eunice Poke.
“He was a strong man, but he had a gentle soul at an early age,” Eunice Poke said. “I believe because he was sick at an early age that he had that nature to stand up for people and to inspire people.”
Lucas had a heart condition since he was 14 and underwent three heart surgeries. He was highly medicated for chronic heart disease and had a pacemaker. With a big family, an 8-year-old son, a girlfriend of 10 years and many friends, he did not have to die alone.
But he did – in the City of St. Louis Justice Center on May 25, 2009.
On May 20, 2009, Lucas was taken into custody for failing to report to his probation officer. He was on a two-year probation for what his family said was his first and only drug offense – heroin possession.
When he was taken into custody, his family said, Lucas was regaining his strength from being in an intensive care unit with heart complications for one month.
People who were inside the Justice Center at the time told the family that Lucas was moaning and asking for help for several days. Lucas’ autopsy report shows the only medication in his system was, promethazine, an allergy medicine, and no traces of his heart medications or even a pain reliever were found.
“He died alone with no family around,” said Eunice Poke. “Nobody to comfort him. He was in great pain. When family thinks about this, how he lingered and suffered, it brings all the pain back.”
He was the youngest of 14 children and the father of a son, Trayon.
“He didn’t get to say goodbye to his son,” Eunice said.
“There’s a child that is going to grow up. When he comes of age, he’s going to ask questions and he’s going to want to know. We need to pursue justice so we can tell him something to settle his heart.”
‘Never got to say goodbye’
On October 12, his sister, Landa Poke, filed a lawsuit for wrongful death against the City of St. Louis Justice Center and Correctional Medical Services, Inc., which has the City contract to provide medical attention to inmates. Her lawyers are Anthony E. Rothert, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri, and Rodney Holmes.
Two months before Lucas died, the ACLU-EM released a study, “Suffering in Silence: Human Rights Abuses in St. Louis Correctional Centers.” Correction officers state in the report that nurses would not respond to sick or injured inmates, which reportedly resulted in tragedies such as inmates losing their hearing.
The court filing states that the Justice Center and Correctional Medical Services “failed to observe and use reasonable and recognized standards for health services in jails … thereby constituting negligence.” It seeks a judgment of $25,000 from both the City and CMS.
The petition states that the center failed to provide adequate medical screening and assessment when Lucas arrived and failed to provide him with his proper medications.
Two of Lucas’ sisters, Eunice Poke and Lana Poke (Landa’s twin sister), said they called the center after hearing from Lucas’ girlfriend that he had been taken to jail. On two different occasions, both told the receptionist that Lucas had a serious heart condition and needed his medications, they said. They said they were told that he was being cared for properly.
They said the receptionist also told the family that Lucas would call them when he was stabilized.
“He never got to say goodbye to his family, and we never got to say goodbye to him,” Eunice Poke said.
Hours after he died, they said the Justice Center called Lana and told her to call a doctor at Saint Louis University Hospital. Lana said the doctor told her that her brother was dead upon arrival and that he had died when he was in the Justice Center. He was 31.
Correctional Medical Services representative Ken Fields said in an email that they have not seen a copy of the ACLU’s lawsuit yet and are unable to comment on the allegations. The company had two lawsuits in 2007, including the wrongful death of Lavonda Kimble, who was jailed for failing to appear in court for traffic tickets and died of a severe asthma attack.
Fields said that the statement the ACLU distributed to media “contains significant inaccuracies about the facts underlying this matter. We will address those inaccuracies in the course of the legal process.”
Patricia Hagemen, City counselor, said in an email that the City is unable to comment specifically on pending litigation. “While the City expresses its sorrow to Mr. Lucas’ family, the City intends to vigorously defend the lawsuit and does not believe jail officials were responsible for Mr. Lucas’ death,” she stated.
Not the first time
The ACLU representatives said they hear about medical negligence in the local jails frequently.
“They’ll go in there, they’re on medication and they have serious ailments,” Rothert said. “It takes them six weeks to see a doctor to figure out what medications they are taking.”
Redditt Hudson, the author of the March 2009 report and an ACLU program associate, reported that people weren’t receiving their medications even when it was available. Lucas’ case is an example of why the center needs to create an external oversight committee, Hudson said. As of now, there is no one externally making sure that policy is enforced within the correctional facilities, Rothert said.
“We are in on-going negotiations with the City and Division of Corrections to establish an oversight committee,” Hudson said. “The question isn’t so much: do you have good policy? The critical thing is: do you have policy adherence?”