Indian Affairs Promised To Reform Tribal Jails. We Found Death, Neglect And Disrepair pulitzercenter.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pulitzercenter.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
At least 19 people have died since 2016 in tribal detention centers overseen by Indian Affairs, our investigation found. Several died after correctional officers failed to provide proper medical care.
There have been at least 19 deaths in Bureau of Indian Affairs detention centers in the last five years. Many of the victims had been arrested for petty crimes and were awaiting trial when they died.
(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