Estate of woman who died in city jail sues city, jail operator

Special administrator Taylor Burke filed the lawsuit Wednesday in Tulsa federal court on behalf of the estate of Lawanda Ward.

Ward, 46, died Jan. 6, 2020, after she was found unresponsive in her cell as a detention officer entered to ready her for court that morning. She was arrested four days earlier on four misdemeanor larceny warrants after Tulsa police officers encountered her on the scene of another larceny.

Prior to her death, Ward complained to jail staff of breathing difficulties and a lack of insulin, according to the lawsuit.

The Tulsa World previously reported that the city of Tulsa jail is one of 14 municipal lockups in the state that rely upon emergency ambulance services or fire paramedics for medical care of detainees.

State law references “adequate medical care” as a standard for city and county jails but doesn’t appear to specifically define what constitutes “adequate,” the World reported.

City officials previously have said the arrangement to have EMSA and Tulsa Fire Department respond to inmate medical calls meets state Health Department codes.

Attorney Dan Smolen, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the estate, faulted the city’s medical delivery system for jail detainees.

“To establish a system where some lay person decides, ‘hey, maybe it’s time to call an ambulance,’ that’s the only system they had, to rely on untrained jail detention staff to make a decision whether or not a person should be sent out to a hospital or an EMT should be called,” Smolen said.

“That was the extent of their system and I believe that a system like that is unconstitutional,” Smolen said. “I believe a system like that is destined to fail at providing a constitutionally sound level of medical care for citizens who find themselves in the jail.”

The state Medical Examiner’s office ruled Ward died from hypertensive cardiovascular disease that was exacerbated by cocaine toxicity.

Pneumonia, congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, obesity and chronic tobacco and cocaine abuse contributed to her death, which was classified as accidental, according to the report.

Ward was the first person to die in the city jail. The lockup, which opened in 2018, was the city’s answer to ongoing squabbles with Tulsa County officials regarding the costs of holding detainees who were arrested only on city misdemeanor charges in the county jail.

The lawsuit names the city of Tulsa, jail operator G4S Secure Solutions (USA), Inc., nine of its employees and a Tulsa Police officer.

The lawsuit alleges the city and jail staff violated Ward’s constitutional rights while G4S was negligent in providing Ward appropriate and timely medical care.

“It was obvious that Lawanda needed immediate and emergent evaluation and treatment from a physician, but such services were denied, delayed and obstructed,” the lawsuit states.

The city of Tulsa declined to comment on the lawsuit. G4S Secure Solutions did not respond to a request for comment.

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