A MS Coast woman lay on a jail cell floor for hours, then died. Her family is suing

Jennifer Carol Foster lay dying on the floor of a Jackson County jail cell for hours as officers “acting with deliberate indifference, failed to render aid” before diabetes finally killed her, a federal lawsuit filed by her family says.

The 50-year-old woman was picked up before sunrise on Oct. 9, 2020 outside a convenience store in Ocean Springs after city police received a public intoxication call. They found Foster disoriented, stumbling, thirsty, perspiring and slurring her words, the lawsuit says. She said she didn’t drink or use drugs and that she had just gotten her “insulin” back.

Video camera footage showed that an officer offered to call her an ambulance instead of taking her to jail but she declined, the lawsuit says.

“They can check you out and make sure your sugar and your blood’s OK, and then if you need to go with them instead of us, you can do that,” the officer is quoted as saying. Foster mumbled and did not directly respond.

The lawsuit states the officers knew, or should have realized, that diabetics in medical crisis can exhibit symptoms that mimic being under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

The officers took her to jail, where she died about 17 hours later, the lawsuit says.

Foster’s daughter, Delilah Bobinger of Harrison County, and the father of a second minor daughter who is not named, have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Gulfport.

The daughters are seeking unspecified damages to compensate them for Foster’s death and their loss, plus punitive damages, against the city of Ocean Springs, Jackson County, former Sheriff Mike Ezell, now a U.S. congressman, now-retired Ocean Springs Police Chief Mark Dunston and jail medical contractor VitalCore Health Strategies LLC.

Also named as defendants are the police officers, deputies and medical staff members believed to have come into contact with Foster when she was arrested and jailed.

In response to the lawsuit, Ezell, the county, the city and VitalCore have denied any wrongdoing and said they are entitled to immunity because they acted within the law. The police officers, deputies and medical staff — who were rrecently added to the lawsuit — have not had time to respond.

Jailers ‘indifferent’ to inmate’s medical condition, lawsuit says

The arrest was Foster’s third in less than four months. She was jailed on an arson charge in June and a public charge in August, Jackson County jail records show. The arson charge was not substantiated after her death and she was released without bond on the earlier public drunk charge.

Her “uncontrolled diabetes” was noted at the jail during both previous stays. The lawsuit alleges Ocean Springs police wanted Foster to agree on calling an ambulance because the city would have to pay for any medical care the officers initiated.

Once at the jail, the lawsuit says, Foster needed assistance from deputies to stand, change clothes and comply with a strip search. Later that morning, she fell off the holding cell bench and hit her head. Still later, she vomited and lay on the floor, where she remained all day and night “in a state of undress,” the lawsuit says.

“All the while,” the lawsuit says, “her condition is obviously deteriorating, with twitching and flailing actions documented on video.”

Just after 6 p.m., another inmate knelt over Foster, held her hand and called for help. The lawsuit says video is missing for the time period just after the call. The video picks up again at 7 p.m., when a guard, believed to be a deputy, picked up Foster’s arm as she “lay motionless on the ground.” Her arm dropped back to the ground.

By 10 p.m., the lawsuit says, “Jennifer Foster is nearly dead.”

A short time later, another deputy got no response when he manipulated Foster’s arm. For the first time, a jail worker believed to be a nurse entered the cell, administered smelling salts and got no response from Foster, the lawsuit says. The video appears to show Foster taking her last breath a few minutes later.

A second nurse arrived 20 minutes later, the lawsuit says. Foster’s death certificate says she died shortly after midnight on Oct. 10, 2020, of diabetic ketoacidosis, a complication of diabetes. The life-threatening condition is best treated through hospitalization, where patients can be administered fluids, insulin and other remedies.

At the time of her death, Ezell told the media that Foster was not breathing during “routine inmate checks.” CPR failed to revive her, he said, and an ambulance was called.

The lawsuit accuses the defendants of “deliberate indifference” to Foster’s medical needs, and violating her constitutional right to be free from bodily harm and receive care while in custody. It also says Ezell, Dunston, the county, the city and VitalCore failed to adequately train and supervise their employees.

The case is not scheduled for trial until 2025 before Judge Sul Ozerden, with a settlement conference set for April 2024.

In 2022, the George County Board of Supervisors agreed to pay a $2.75 million settlement over the death of a diabetic inmate who had been without insulin at the jail for seven days. The nurse who failed to treat him was convicted of manslaughter.