California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Faces Federal Lawsuit Over Inmate Suicide

By Staff Writer | Jan 26, 2016 06:34 AM EST

A federal lawsuit is filed against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The federal lawsuit said, it failed to prevent the suicide of one inmate in the prison. The suicide happened in November back in the year 2014 in Mule Creek State Prison, located near Ione.

According to Daily Progress, inmate Daniel Lee Wright took his own life in Mule Creek State Prison, situated near Ione, in November 2014. The federal lawsuit contains, the inmate is recordeed with psychological disorder and suicide attempts however, Wright was not on a suicide watch at the time he died.

The lawsuit was filed by the civil rights in Sacramento for Wright's children. The Orange County Register reported, his children is seeking damages accusing California's correctional system for "deliberate indifference" on their father's medical needs.

Wright formed a noose out of materials on his prison cell. According to Sacramento Bee, the 45-year old inmate had been put under suicide watch four times and in 2012, he was discovered hanging and unconscious inside his prison cell. His records also showed that he had eight serious suicide attempts.

Despite of these records, he was not on suicide watch on November 2nd of 2014. According to the filed documents, Wright did not go out when guards allowed inmates to go to the prison yard. During that time, he used the time to form a noose using a braided bed sheet and hang himself from a metal vent.

On the complaint submitted by Sacramento Lawyer Stewart Katz in U.S. District Court, it said, "Wright's unfortunate death comes at the heels of a long line of documented institutional failures by California's correctional system in its treatment of mentally ill inmates, including many suicides."

Officials from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation refuse to make a comment, however, Wright suicide case had been criticized by Lindsay Hayes, a nationally recognized expert in the field of suicide prevention within jails.

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