Quantez Burks’ family, their attorneys, want U.S. Department of Justice to expand investigation into Burks’ death
BECKLEY, WV (WVNS) — An attorney for the family of the late Quantez Burks called on U.S. District Attorney Will Thompson to expand a federal criminal investigation into Burks’ death at Southern Regional Jail to include contracted medical and food service companies at Southern Regional Jail.
Eight guards face federal charges in United States District Court of the Southern District of West Virginia for allegedly beating Burks and conspiring to cover up the alleged beating, or both.
Stephen New, an attorney who represents inmates whose rights were allegedly violated at Southern Regional Jail in a separate case, said he had discovered overcrowding, inadequate health care, a severely dysfunctional administration and a deteriorating facility at the Beaver jail.
New, along with civil rights attorney Ben Crump of Georgia and the Harman Law Office of Georgia, now make allegations against PrimeCare Medical Inc. in a new lawsuit which New said had been presented to PrimeCare Inc. attorneys on Thursday.
New said the allegations which have emerged in the latest lawsuit against PrimeCare Medical show a darker picture of the culture at Southern Regional Jail.
“I expected to see negligence, I expected to see sloppiness. I did not expect to see depravity,” said New. “I did not expect to see people stoop to the depths that these people stooped to, and to keep the truth from coming out.”
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According to New, PrimeCare medical staff documented that Burks had severely elevated blood pressure and was complaining of chest pain early in the morning of March 1, 2022, but declined to call 911 or to transport him to a nearby hospital.
He said video surveillance showed Burks “begging” for help around 10 a.m., and then allegedly being handcuffed and attacked by guards after he tried to exit the pod in order to get medical help.
The lawsuit alleges PrimeCare nurses conspired with Southern Regional Jail guards to cover up inmate deaths and abuse, even allegedly falsifying medical records, as well as failing to report alleged abuse of incarcerated people to proper authorities.
The lawsuit alleges PrimeCare nurse Kayla Maynard was present when guards allegedly beat Burks, and that she did not intervene to provide medical care for his blood pressure or his injuries. It also alleges that she later suggested she could overdose Burks with insulin to make his death appear natural.
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“For too long, what’s gone on at Southern Regional Jail has been swept under the rug, and it’s been ignored in Charleston,” said New on Thursday, February 22, 2024. “I hope the United States Attorney’s Office expands the scope of its investigation. If it involves the contracted medical providers, if it involves the food providers, for instance, whoever is responsible needs held responsible, however far up the chain that goes in government.”
Aramark provides food services in state jails and prisons.
In 2022, West Virginia jail officials had contracted Prime Care Medical of West Virginia, a Pennsylvania-based company, to provide health care for those incarcerated in state jails and prisons.
PrimeCare of West Virginia was named as a defendant in an earlier class action lawsuit the attorneys brought against Southern Regional and state officials, alleging civil rights violations of inmates.
Since then, PrimeCare of West Virginia has filed bankruptcy, but the parent company, PrimeCare Medical, Inc., is operational.
Since 2009, PrimeCare Medical Inc. has faced more than two dozen lawsuits in several states, alleging substandard medical or mental health care resulting in injury or death to prisoners, according to www.prisonlegalnews.com.
Prime Care Medical Inc. has been held liable for at least $13.7 million since November 2017.
New said the company is no longer under contract in West Virginia jails after losing a bid to Wexford Health in 2022.
Burks’ fiancee, Latasha Williams, of Beckley, said on Thursday that the alleged behavior of guards and PrimeCare nurses while Burks was reportedly ill at the jail is “ridiculous.”
“Nobody, shouldn’t nobody, have been treated like that,” said Williams. “He shouldn’t have been treated like that, at all. He should’ve been taken to the hospital and gotten help, like he was asking for, instead of gotten beat to death.”
Burks’ mother, Kimberly Burks, of Beckley, said she lives with Burks’ death every moment, and that she has trouble sleeping since her son died at Southern Regional Jail.
She added that hearing the allegations in the FBI investigation and in the new lawsuit was difficult.
“As a mother, when you hear your child is begging for help, and you’re not there to help, it’s a big deal,” she said. “The thought that there was nobody there to help my son, at a time he really needed it, and they chose to beat him, is beyond words to me.”
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She said state officials were strangely quiet after her son’s death, not informing her he had died, but she made a promise she would push for everyone responsible for his death to be brought to justice.
“It’s been almost two years, and I am still in full force, as to finding out what happened to my son,” she said. “I made a vow to Quan it would never end, until we found out what happened to him.”
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