(Sharon Chischilly for NPR)
This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
When police took Carlos Yazzie to jail on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico after his arrest on a bench warrant in January 2017, he needed immediate medical attention. His foot was swollen and his blood alcohol content was nearly six times the legal limit.
But law enforcement decided that he was fine, jail records show. They put Yazzie in a cramped isolation cell at the Shiprock District Department of Corrections facility instead of taking him to a hospital and then left him unmonitored for six hours without periodic staff checks as required, according to an investigative report. When a guard handing out inmate jumpsuits the next morning stopped at Yazzie s cell, the 44-year-old day laborer was dead. It would later be determined in an autopsy that he died from acute alcohol poisoning, which is easily treatable by medical professionals, experts said.
Indian Affairs Promised To Reform Tribal Jails. We Found Death, Neglect And Disrepair
By Nate Hegyi
June 10, 2021
This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
When police took Carlos Yazzie to jail on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico after his arrest on a bench warrant in January 2017, he needed immediate medical attention. His foot was swollen and his blood alcohol content was nearly six times the legal limit.
But law enforcement decided that he was fine, jail records show. They put Yazzie in a cramped isolation cell at the Shiprock District Department of Corrections facility instead of taking him to a hospital and then left him unmonitored for six hours without periodic staff checks as required, according to an investigative report. When a guard handing out inmate jumpsuits the next morning stopped at Yazzie’s cell, the 44-year-old day laborer was dead. It would later be determined in an autopsy that he died from acute alcohol poisoning, which is ea
News Release U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Yesterday, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, led
News Release U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs On May 26, the Senate approved eight bills that were passed by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs,
Schatz applauds Senate passage of eight bipartisan Indian Affairs bills
Bills will help promote tribal economic development, strengthen tribal self-determination
Author:
Bills will help promote tribal economic development, strengthen tribal self-determination
News Release
U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, issued the following statement upon full Senate passage of eight bills previously approved by the committee. The bills now head to the House of Representatives for further consideration.
“Senate passage of these Indian Affairs bills shows our commitment – not only to advancing Native priorities in committee – but also to building bipartisan momentum throughout the Senate to get things done for Native communities,”