On September 5, 2013, the ACLU Foundation of Kansas & Western Missouri (the ACLU) received a complaint from Lisa Elasser, whose cousin, Matthew Tracy was in the Caldwell County, Missouri, jail and was receiving no care for his serious medical problems.
Mr. Tracy has an open gut due to a double ostomy procedure, and he needs intravenous saline solution to stay hydrated. He also requires constant medical monitoring and care. Rather than provide that necessary medical care, the jail’s staff told Ms. Elasser that the jail had no duty to provide care for Mr. Tracy and that the family should provide his medical care.
On September 10, Legal Director Doug Bonney wrote a strongly worded demand letter telling Caldwell County Sheriff Jerry Galloway that the jail’s staff was dead wrong. In fact, the Constitution requires jails and prisons to provide inmates with all necessary and proper medical care and to pay for that care in the case of indigent inmates like Mr. Tracy.
After receiving the ACLU’s letter, the jail ordered intravenous saline solution for Mr. Tracy and took him to a local emergency room so that he could receive required hydration treatment. On Friday, September 13, 2013, the jail released Mr. Tracy to home confinement so that he could receive his medical care from his regular health care providers while he awaits his criminal trial.
“This is a great victory for Mr. Tracy and his family, and it should be a lesson to all local sheriffs. The Constitution requires jailers to provide medical care for their inmates,” said Legal Director Bonney. “When jails refuse to provide necessary care for their inmates, they are taking huge liability risks and are putting the public’s tax money at risk in potential civil rights lawsuits.”