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MURDERED BY TEXAS
LARRY COX
LARRY COX DIED TWO WEEKS AFTER A CONFRONTATION WITH GUARDS. TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE
By ROMA KHANNA
CLOSER LOOK SOUGHT INTO PRISONER'S DEATH
Houston Democrat demands answers in Huntsville case, examination of prison health care
****NOTATION: People Against Prison Abuse aka PAPA adds: Senator John Whitmire is Chair of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee of Texas****
A Huntsville prisoner's death, ruled a homicide stemming from medical neglect of injuries he suffered in a scuffle with guards last year, prompted a state senator Monday to call for federal and local investigations into the death and an examination of the quality of health care for all Texas inmates.
Larry Louis Cox, a 48-year-old Houston man serving time in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Estelle Unit, died Feb. 6, 2007, two weeks after a confrontation with guards left him with two broken vertebrae that went undetected for weeks, according to state prosecutors who investigated the death. No one was prosecuted or punished over the incident.
The case came to the attention of Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, in December after the dead man's brother wrote the legislator.
"The death certificate says that this was a homicide and I want to know who is being held accountable," Whitmire said Monday. "More than anything, I want to know what are the conditions that allowed something like this to happen in the first place."
Whitmire on Monday sent letters to the Houston office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Public Safety's Texas Rangers requesting that both entities probe the death. He also scheduled a Jan. 24 hearing of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee to examine protocols for prisoners' health care, the process of examining in-custody deaths and whether a chronic shortage of prison guards creates circumstances ripe for such incidents.
Fell during struggle
Cox entered the Texas prison system in 1990 after he pleaded guilty to burglary of a habitation with intent to commit sexual assault, and a Harris County judge sentenced him to 20 years in prison. Ten years later, while in prison, Cox was convicted of murder and sentenced to 15 years. Details of that crime were not available.
He was incarcerated in Huntsville's Estelle Unit on Jan. 23, 2007, when two guards, clearing an area for fumigation, approached Cox's cell, according to Gina DeBottis, the attorney in charge of the state's special prosecution unit, which prosecutes crimes that occur in prisons.
Cox refused to leave his cell. He kicked one of the guards, prompting the other and a sergeant to attempt to physically restrain him. Cox, whose hands were behind his back fell during the struggle and struck his face on the edge of a metal bunk and a metal foot locker beneath it, according to the prosecutor's investigation.
Guards took Cox to the prison infirmary, where he complained of neck pain and was transferred to Huntsville Memorial Hospital. There, he underwent a CT scan, which doctors reported was "unremarkable with no sign of fracture," DeBottis said.
A Huntsville Memorial spokeswoman, Karen Bilsing, said she was unable to comment on the incident.
The hospital discharged Cox and he returned to the prison.
There, he remained for more than two days, complaining of serious pain, some guards told prosecutors. One guard became so concerned about Cox's condition that he contacted a nurse at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, which provides health care for prison inmates.
"By January 26 his condition had tremendously deteriorated and he was taken by ambulance to Galveston," DeBottis said.
Doctors there classified Cox's condition as critical and ordered two MRIs, which revealed two broken vertebrae and a spinal fracture. Cox continued to decline and he died Feb. 6.
The Galveston Medical Examiner's Office ruled his death a homicide caused by "medical neglect complicating blunt force trauma," according to the autopsy report.
A prison spokesman referred questions to UTMB. A UTMB spokeswoman declined to comment Monday.
Presented to grand jury
Cox's death was investigated on several levels at the time.
The Texas Board of Criminal Justice's office of inspector general studied his death and passed its findings onto DeBottis' team of prosecutors. They presented the case in October to a Walker County grand jury, which cleared those involved in Cox's treatment.
For Whitmire, the probes have been insufficient.
"I am alarmed at the fact that we have had a homicide in our prison system and nothing has happened," Whitmire said. "This is a clear sign that we have problems that must be addressed and I hope the authorities I have appealed to will investigate."
****1/15/08 NOTATION: PAPA points out in this article where it says his "hands were behind him" as many are aware that this means they had him handcuffed when they slammed him which is a common/everyday occurance in TDCJ. Please bring this to the AWARENESS of your Legislator this brutality that is a daily performance by the guards. Regardless of why an Inmate is in prison, his/her purnishment is to be in prison, Inmates are not sent to prison to be punished, brutalized, raped, beaten, tortured, medically neglected, denied food/water, and many other issues not mentioned. Flo****
INJURED INMATE SPENT TWO DAYS ON CELL FLOOR
Medical staff withheld drug because dying prisoner couldn't come to
get it
By ROMA KHANNA
Texas inmate Larry Louis Cox's 2007 death was ruled a homicide
stemming from medical neglect.
• Jan. 23: Cox is injured in a confrontation with guards. He is
unable to stand to accept medication.
For two days after a physical confrontation with Texas prison guards,
inmate Larry Louis Cox lay on a mattress on his cell floor, in his
waste, with medical staff reporting he "refused" medication because
he could not stand and come to the door to receive it.
According to records obtained by the Chronicle, Cox complained that
he was paralyzed. But only after he worsened and was transferred to a
hospital did doctors determine he had suffered two broken vertebrae,
undetected by medical staff. He died Feb. 6, two weeks after the
scrap with guards.
Recently released investigative reports and interviews with
investigators and prosecutors provide new details about Cox's death
at a Huntsville prison — an incident that prompted state Sen. John
Whitmire, D-Houston, to set a hearing in Austin today of the Senate
Criminal Justice Committee. Senators plan to examine Cox's treatment,
the alleged negligence on the part of medical staff and the state of
health care in all Texas prisons.
A medical examiner ruled Cox's death a homicide by "medical neglect
complicating blunt force trauma."
Reports from the state Office of Inspector General show that on four
occasions prison medical staff did not administer Cox's prescribed
medication because he could not get up to receive it. Instead, it was
a concerned prison guard who once hand-fed Cox painkillers and
another who finally alerted medical supervisors that the 48-year-old
convict needed to be transferred to a hospital.
Walker County prosecutors acknowledged to the Chronicle that they
twice refused to pursue charges against medical staff, despite state
investigators' recommendations
Interviews and reports also suggest that hot-button Texas prison
issues, such as the shortage of guards and medical personnel, may
have affected Cox's treatment.
Convicted of prison killing
Cox, a Houston man, entered the Texas prison system in 1990, after he
was convicted of burglary with intent to commit sexual assault. While
in prison, he was convicted of murder in the death of another inmate.
He was incarcerated at the Estelle Unit in Huntsville on Jan. 23 last
year when he scuffled with guards as they attempted to return him to
his cell after a fumigation. Restrained, with his hands cuffed behind
his back, Cox became combative, kicking guards who forced him to the
floor. As Cox went down, he hit his head on his metal bunk and locker
and began bleeding profusely.
Medical staff, employees of the University of Texas Medical Branch
assigned to the prison, examined Cox and decided to transfer him to
Huntsville Memorial Hospital. There he received stitches for cuts on
his face and a CT scan on his neck and head, but doctors found no
fractures. A hospital spokeswoman declined to comment.
Cox was returned to his cell.
Six hours later, Cox "told (a guard) he hurt too bad to get up or
move," according to reports. He said he was paralyzed. A guard
offered him Tylenol, which Cox could not get up and receive.
A nurse told the guard "that Cox would have to get up and accept the
medication if he wanted it," according to investigators' records.
"Cox did not receive any medication at that time."
That interaction was repeated three times over the next couple of
days, as Cox lay in his own blood and waste on his cell floor,
complaining of pain.
One guard, worried that Cox would die if he did not receive medical
attention, contacted a supervisor with UTMB at the prison. Within 12
hours, Cox was taken to UTMB's John Sealy Hospital in Galveston,
where doctors discovered his spinal fractures.
For the next 11 days, Cox remained at John Sealy, declining until his
death, according to reports. The Galveston County medical examiner
ruled his death a homicide.
The death prompted an investigation by the Office of Inspector
General, an independent agency that monitors prisons, which was
completed in July. Inspector General John Moriarty forwarded the case
to prosecutors with the recommendation that charges be pursued
against five of the medical staff at the Estelle Unit who treated Cox.
"I have the obligation to make sure the rights of the inmates are
protected," Moriarty said. "I am the last voice for that person and I
believe there was a criminal violation in this horrendous case."
UTMB officials described Cox's case as "unfortunate," not criminal,
and said steps are being taken to "ensure that any mistakes made by
our people are understood and not repeated," according to Dr. Ben
Raimer, who directs the UTMB prison health care system.
Prosecutor Philip Hall, a 14-year veteran assigned to the state's
prison prosecution unit, reviewed the file, characterizing a
prosecutor's opinion as the "only one that counts." Hall said he
found no criminal conduct.
"We had a guy who died under not normal circumstances and (OIG)
wanted people charged," Hall said. "But just because the autopsy said
medical negligence does not mean there was a crime."
Jurors were satisfied
He consulted with his boss, Gina Debottis, chief of the prison
prosecution unit, and Walker County District Attorney David Weeks,
who both agreed. The prosecutors said the medical staff's action
could be explained by Huntsville Memorial Hospital's conclusion that
Cox had no major injuries.
Hall presented the case to a Walker County grand jury in October and
recommended that no one be charged. Jurors declined to investigate
further. The case appeared closed.
But investigators from the Office of Inspector General appealed to
Weeks, asking that he again review the case file and re-evaluate the
decision not to pursue charges.
Weeks again declined, saying Cox's case is more emblematic of
systemic problems in prisons — guard shortages, funding for medical
care — than individual criminal wrongdoing.
"When you look at everything you can see how it happened," Weeks
said. "It is a sad situation, but that doesn't make it criminal. I am
here to prosecute cases that are valid and this one did not get to
that threshold."
About the time Weeks re-examined the case, Cox's brother, also in a
state prison, appealed to Whitmire. The senator began investigating
and scheduled a hearing of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee for
today.
INMATE'S DEATH CALLED `HIGHLY COMPLEX'
State Senate panel members demand to know why issue not broached earlier
Jan. 25, 2008, 11:45AM
AUSTIN — On this, everyone agrees: 48-year-old Larry Louis Cox should
not have been left to deteriorate on his prison cell floor, with a
broken back and in his own waste, for two days before being sent to
the hospital where he died.
But while a medical examiner and independent prison investigators
found evidence that Cox's death last February was caused by medical
neglect, the director who oversees the adult prison's health care
system defended medical staff on Thursday and called the case "highly
complex."
In testimony before a Senate committee, Dr. Ben Raimer and a
colleague, Dr. Glenda Adams — both with the University of Texas
Medical Branch at Galveston — suggested a mix of factors led to Cox's
death, including the inmate's own poor health, his tendency to
malinger and his violent behavior.
Later, Raimer and Adams both indicated that the death of the inmate
from Houston may have been aggravated by severe shortages in medical
staff, including a 15 percent shortage of doctors, an 18 percent
shortage of midlevel practitioners and another 18 percent shortage in
registered nurses.
Soon, the issue of shortages in medical personnel dominated the
hearing held by the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. The
committee's chairman, Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, demanded to know
why UTMB officials had not bothered to notify the Legislature of the
problem.
"Why in the hell ain't somebody telling us this?" Whitmire said. "Why
isn't somebody calling us to say 'We've got an urgent matter?' "
Sen. Robert Deuell, R-Greenville, himself a physician, demanded to
know why low-level medical staff were making life and death decisions
in the Cox case, apparently without help from senior medical staff.
"With our current staff situation, there was not a (physician
assistant) on site," Raimer said.
Cox died in a hospital on Feb. 6, two weeks after a scuffle with
guards at the Estelle Unit in Huntsville, where he was incarcerated.
The Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office ruled his death a
homicide by "medical neglect complicating blunt force trauma."
Guards became alarmed
The prison's independent inspector general, John Moriarty, who's in
charge of monitoring the prison system, told lawmakers that on four
occasions prison medical staff did not administer Cox's prescribed
medication, even when he told them he was paralyzed and could not get
it himself.
A physician care assistant recorded that as a "refusal to take
medication."
For two days, Cox was left on a mattress on his cell floor, lying in
his own waste. Moriarty said it was prison correctional officers who
became alarmed and came to Cox's aid.
One guard hand-fed Cox painkillers; another alerted medical
supervisors that the inmate needed to be transferred to a hospital.
By then, however, it was too late.
No one was ever held criminally responsible. The two prosecutors
involved, one with the Walker County District Attorney's Office, the
other assigned to the state's prison prosecutor unit, recommended
that no criminal charges be filed, despite the medical examiner's
report and despite Moriarty's conclusion that criminal charges be
brought against at least five medical employees at the Estelle Unit.
In 1990, Cox received a 20-year prison sentence in Harris County for
burglary with intent to commit sexual assault. Eight years later, he
was sentenced to 15 more years for murdering another inmate.
Houston Chronicle reporter Roma Khanna contributed to this report.
*******1/26/09 PAPA states: DO NOT forget about the first article that came out stated that Larry's hands were behind him. As previously stated, means he was handcuffed while being beaten down by the guards. This is a common occurrence in the Texas Prison System. Do NOT allow the legislators pass this information by "with his hands behind him." Thank You, Flo, PAPA*******
INMATE'S DEATH IS FOCUS OF HEARING
Star-Telegram.com: | 01/25/2008 |
AUSTIN -- A critical shortage of doctors and a reliance on under-qualified staff members to make medical assessments may have contributed to the death of a Texas prison inmate who went several days without proper treatment after suffering a neck fracture and deep facial cuts, a legislative panel was told Thursday.
The Senate Criminal Justice Committee heard a range of testimony on the case of Larry Louis Cox, who died in February after suffering severe blunt-force trauma while being removed from his cell in one of the Texas prison system's most secure lockups for habitually violent offenders.
An autopsy showed that Cox, 48, would likely have recovered from his injuries, and the medical examiner ruled his death homicide by medical neglect.
The committee chairman, Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, asked the special prosecutor whose office brings charges for crimes committed in prisons why no indictments resulted from Cox's death. The prosecutor, Gina DeBottis, said the case was presented to a Walker County grand jury as a death in custody rather than as a homicide.
She said her office was satisfied with the grand jury's decision not to indict. Whitmire seemed incredulous.
"Why not criminally negligent homicide?" he said, adding that the inspector general of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice "feels strongly that it was medical neglect. The medical examiner feels strongly it was medical neglect."
Whitmire backed off after Texas Rangers Capt. Tony Leal testified that based on his review of the investigation, it would be impossible to determine that someone had committed an overt criminal act leading to Cox's death.
"Looking for somebody to indict in this deal -- it's not here," Leal said. "I think this is one of those circumstances when everything that could go wrong did go wrong."
Cox was injured while resisting efforts by a team of correctional officers to remove him from his cell in the Estelle Unit in Huntsville on Jan. 23, 2007. During a scuffle, the handcuffed inmate smashed his head while being wrestled to the floor. He was later taken to a hospital where tests showed no serious injuries, though he suffered bruising and cuts on his face that required 23 stitches.
The correctional officers involved were given polygraph tests, and Inspector General John Moriarty determined that they had acted appropriately.
Cox's conditioned worsened after he returned to his cell, according to testimony at the hearing. Although he complained about being unable to move, even to use his in-cell toilet, he received only routine care from nurses and the administrative medical staff.
Sen. Robert Deuell, R-Greenville, who is a physician, expressed shock that official accounts of the days after Cox returned to his cell showed that a licensed vocational nurse was making medical assessments on his condition.
"I don't see where a [registered nurse] was notified," Deuell said while thumbing through the report. "I don't see where a physician assistant was notified. I don't see where a doctor was notified."
Ben Raimer, who heads the prison system's healthcare program, run by the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, said his staff does its best under difficult circumstances. The system has only half the doctors it needs and is 18 percent short of nurses and medical practitioners, he said.
"They can go anywhere and get a better job and make more money," Raimer told the panel. "It's a hazardous environment. Most people who have other options don't want to work there."
Whitmire said state leaders need a candid assessment of the conditions so they can factor them in when the state budget is being prepared.
MESSAGE FROM FLO - PAPA
1/29/08
This is in response to new articles making excuses for Larry Cox's Death.
The blaming of staff shortage for Larry Cox's Death is not an acceptable excuse.
The Texas Legislators have been informed over and over what was going on in the prison systems. They cannot say they did not know because they have been told and told over and over, with Taxpaying Voting Citizens hollering loud for many years to have their voices pushed under the rugs.
Recall all the fist fights on the senate floors, the name callings, the legislators that left town, the legislators that would not show up to vote the last legislation meetings???? What was this about, Speaker of the House, Tom Craddick of Midland, Texas (Joint Chairman of the Criminal Justice Counsel) refused to allow specific issues and problems with new proposed bills to come the floor? Do you remember all that was in the news? If you do, then remember a lot of new bills were having to do with the Corrections in the State of Texas. Remember how much went on about Texas Youth Commission, TYC, how all the emergency actions that happen. During this time many people where screaming as loud as they could that the same things were happening in the Adult Correction Facilities. Well there were several Legislators there attempting to get some reform done, but since Craddick is only interested in the Oil Industry, he would not allow what the people wanted done, he would not allow the voices of the representatives to bring issues concerning the Correctional problems of Texas.
What can you do? Tell people to vote him out. Tell your Senator and Representative that you want Craddick out as Speaker of House before the next Legislators meet. If you know people in Midland area, ask them to vote him out. The "BIG OIL MONEY" in MIDLAND is what supports him and what keeps him in. Don't forget that is where BUSH came from and how he got into office, by the "BIG OIL MONEY". In their books, it is no longer about the people, it is about the pocketbook and has been for years.
This is to remind, that in the last election there was a bond issue passed to build 3 more supermax prisons in Texas. How did that happen? Maybe we can blame it on the fixed and rigged voting machines that many have complained about. But, the main question is, if they can not supply proper staff and medical care for Inmates already in the system, if they can't fix and repair the facilities they already have, then why are the Taxpayers funding three more multiple million dollar units?
I just recently lost all my cool to an aid in a legislators office (after numerous weeks of attempting to get an Inmate help), when he called me up telling me they "CAN'T" do this or they can't do that. I said, "CAN'T" is not acceptable. If your boss cannot get emergency legislation passed to make some changes immediately in the prison system, then we are going to vote him out. This was in reference to an inmate dying of cancer (probably has less than a month to live), he was begging for more pain medication, the guards came in, picked him up, threw him down in the hallway, kicked and hit on him, threw his wheelchair on top of him, walked off living him in a crumbled pile on the floor. The man was not strong enough to get himself up off the floor, to get himself back in his wheelchair, to get himself back to his bed. After I finished loosing it, cooling down a little bit, I apologized to the aid telling him I knew it was not his fault, but something had to be done. There should be legislation that allows any state representative to walk up to the front gate of a Texas Correctional Facility at anytime, call for guard escorts, walk through the facilities to see what is really going on. If a state paid employee can not do this, then some changes need to be made where they can.
People Against Prison Abuse and me personally, are no longer willing to accept the cover ups, the lies, the wrong actions of guards, inspectors general, majors, captains, Sgt., Lt., or Wardens. If they are not doing their jobs then they MUST be reported.
Please let the legislators know how the Inmates are treated and threaten. If "WE" the Love Ones of Prisoners get involved, raise eyebrows, cause a scene, get them investigated, and all that stuff, then a difference can be made.
We MUST STAND UP, SPEAK OUT, LET THEM KNOW WE ARE NO LONGER TOLERATING THIS LACK OF or THE WRONG ACTIONS of STATE PAID EMPLOYEES.
If you, a Texas Resident, have not written your Senators and Representatives concerning the wrongful deaths of many Texas Inmates especially the current death in the news of Larry Cox, all I can say, is "shame on you".
Now is the time to get it on with the Legislators, Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, do not allow this opportunity to pass without voicing out your opinions. Call them to accountability and responsibility.
Their email addresses are on the internet under State of Texas, look for governing offices.
When I lost my cool, is when I started saying, REFORM or out the DOOR, elections are right around the corner.
Am I upset, "YES", I am. The brutal deaths just continue to happen over and over in the Texas Correctional Facilities. Many never heard of because they didn't have family or a Love One to get it into the news. They are the unknown. They are the unmarked graves. They are the untold stories.
DO YOU CARE? I CARE! I HOPE and PRAY YOU DO TOO, and you rise up to make a difference.
FACTOR 8: THE ARKANSAS PRISON BLOOD SCANDAL
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Please help spread the word about this important film,
aka TDCJ,ESTELLE UNIT, HUNTSVILLE, TX
Austin Statesman
Austin, TX
January 15, 2008
1:34AM
PEOPLE AGAINST PRISON ABUSE (PAPA)
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Jan. 23, 2008, 11:45PM
• Jan. 24: Prison medical staff reports that Cox "refused" medication
because he could not stand to accept it.
• Jan. 25: Medical staff twice more reports Cox refusing medicine.
• Jan. 26: In critical condition, Cox is transferred to a Galveston
hospital.
• Jan. 27: Doctors discover Cox's spine is fractured. His condition
deteriorates.
• Feb. 6: Cox dies.
By LISA SANDBERG
Copyright 2008
Houston Chronicle
Austin Bureau
PEOPLE AGAINST PRISON ABUSE (PAPA)
Posted on Fri, Jan. 25, 2008
By JOHN MORITZ
Star-Telegram staff writer
PEOPLE AGAINST PRISON ABUSE (PAPA)
"Factor 8: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal"
Factor 8 Documentary website
along with the urls to the linked pages.
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