Oklahoma County settles federal case over jail inmate's death for $400,000
A lawsuit over a 2018 inmate death at the Oklahoma County jail is being settled for $400,000.
Sindi Spray, 24, of Noble, died of a perforated ulcer on Dec. 16, 2018. The jail at the time was still under the control of the Oklahoma County sheriff's office. She had been there three days.
The lawsuit alleged she was never seen by a physician at the jail even though she repeatedly complained of severe abdominal pain. She had disclosed she had a heroin addiction, a known cause of ulcers, when she had been booked in.
"She's fine," a nurse told a medical assistant who wanted to send Spray to the hospital.
The medical assistant, Ginger Sanford, quit soon after the death. "They treat people in that jail like livestock," Sanford testified in a deposition last year. "I wasn't going to be part of the neglect, the medical BS that went on there. We were there to help people, and that's not what was happening."
Spray's parents sued in Oklahoma City federal court in 2020. A trial in the civil rights case was set to begin next week. County commissioners voted 2-1 on Tuesday to approve the settlement.
More: Oklahoma family seeks answers after woman's death at county jail
That vote came after U.S. District Judge David Russell refused last month to throw out the case.
"There is testimony that jail medical staff would routinely ignore sick call requests and that both medical staff and detention officers complained about inmates not receiving medical care," the judge wrote in an order. "The jail was consistently understaffed, only one detention officer was assigned to each floor as a matter of course, and detention officers routinely failed to perform their required sight checks.
"A reasonable juror could ... conclude that these deficiencies caused Ms. Spray’s death. Although Ms. Spray exhibited a worrying change in symptoms, her sick call request was ignored and her cell was not appropriately monitored."
The parents' attorney, Danny Shadid, said Thursday the family continues to mourn her loss. He said they hope that the case will help prevent similar tragedies in the future.
Spray was facing a felony charge of using a computer to post an escort ad. She was in jail at the time of her death because she had failed to appear for a court hearing.
More: Oklahoma County to pay $1.1M to settle lawsuit over 2017 death of jail inmate
"The ... deceased was a heroin addict and high-end escort whose lifestyle led to her tragic death," attorneys for the county contended in court filings.
"The evidence is that the contracted medical professionals evaluated the deceased, monitored the deceased, treated the deceased and talked to the deceased. Proof of good faith ... could not be clearer," the county's attorneys told the judge.
Issues still plague the Oklahoma County jail
A trust took over control of the jail three years ago from the sheriff's office, promising that conditions there would improve.
Overcrowding has eased. But the trust has faced many of the same problems that sheriffs have dealt with since the 13-story facility opened in 1991 west of downtown Oklahoma City. A July health inspection found bedbugs again and more failures to check on inmates regularly.
A state multicounty grand jury in March called for control of the jail to be returned to the sheriff because of the high number of deaths under the trust.
"Each inmate death is different and tragic, but many of the deaths were preventable," grand jurors reported.
The Oklahoma County jail has had six inmate deaths this year. The last one was in April.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Civil rights case over 2018 Oklahoma County jail death has settled
