Source: Rhino Times Greensboro

County Pays $500K for Jail Death

by Scott D. Yost

January 24, 2013

Guilford County has just paid out what is thought to be the largest amount the county has ever paid to settle a legal liability claim. A half-million dollar payment went to the family of a deceased former jail inmate to settle a wrongful death suit for the inmate who collapsed in the county jail and died after being confined to a restraining chair for an extended period of time.

Christopher Mason Armstrong – a 21-year-old mentally ill black male inmate – died on Monday, Dec. 27, 2010 while in the custody of the former Guilford County jail.

Armstrong collapsed after being bound in a restraining chair for extended periods of time over three days during and after Christmas Day, 2010. The exact amount of time Armstrong spent strapped in the chair is unknown because, according to several county officials with knowledge of the incident, jail staff did not keep the required records of the use of the restraining chair during the time in question.

One source said that jail records reflect a 30-hour confinement of Armstrong in the chair. However, there seems to be a good deal of agreement that the length of time reflected in those records is the result of a failure to note the time or times he was allowed out of the restraining chair, rather than the actual length of time he was confined in it.

Guilford County has paid $475,000 to the family to settle the case, and some county commissioners who were briefed on the matter before the settlement was approved and paid, said they were told Guilford County might have ended up paying much more if the case had gone to court.

Prison Health Services (PHS) was responsible for providing medical care in all the county’s jails in late 2010, when the incident occurred, and, according to one source with knowledge of the legal negotiations regarding the case, PHS is paying a much higher amount as a result of the suit than the $475,000 the county is paying. Prison Health Services, which changed its name to Corizon about two years ago, is still the provider for the Guilford County jail system under the new company name.

Several of those who were county commissioners last year when the settlement was reached said that Guilford County agreed to pay the large sum out of concern that, if the case went to court, the county would have ended up paying “millions.”

That belief was based largely on a briefing and related legal advice provided in closed session to the Board of Commissioners by the outside attorney, Bill Hill of Frazier, Hill & Fury, who was hired to handle the case for the county.

According to heavily redacted documents obtained by The Rhinoceros Times through a public records request, Armstrong was “found in distress or dead” in his cell at 5:08 p.m. on Dec. 27, 2010. He had collapsed on the floor of a holding cell shortly after being released from the restraint chair.

Armstrong, who was reportedly babbling incoherently at the time of his collapse, urinated on the floor of the cell; and, after attempts at CPR by jail staff and Guilford County Emergency Services responders to revive him, Armstrong was taken to the emergency room at Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital where a pulse was momentarily regained before he was declared dead at 5:41 p.m.

The notation in the hospital record reads “unwitnessed cardiac arrest” as the suspected cause of death.

The Report of Autopsy Examination from the NC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Chapel Hill offered further details: “The decedent was a 29 year old male who was an inmate at the Guilford County Jail. He has a reported psychiatric history. Per report he had been restrained for days for banging his head against the wall. He had been released and allowed to move freely approximately 30 minutes prior to his death. He was found pulseless and apneic in his cell.

“Significant finding at autopsy include acute pulmonary thromboemboli involving multiple lung fields. There are superficial abrasions and lacerations on the hands and a subgaleal hemorrahage overlying the left brow region.

“Toxicology studies are negative for benzodiazepines, cocaine, ethanol, opiates and organic bases.

“Based on the history and investigative findings, it is my opinion that the cause of death in this case is acute pulmonary thromboemboli. Contributing factors are the decedent’s recent episode of self harm due to his psychiatric illness and subsequent restraint.”

Jail records give Armstrong’s address as an apartment on Gorman Street in central Raleigh. Armstrong was being held in the Guilford County jail on charges including assault and battery, extortion, blackmail and two failures to appear for court dates.

In summer and fall 2012, the Guilford County commissioners were briefed on the Armstrong situation in closed session – at one point by Hill, the outside legal counsel, and at other times by Guilford County Attorney Mark Payne and Sheriff BJ Barnes.

During one long closed session last fall, the commissioners had many questions for Barnes about the details of the event.

Guilford County Risk Management Director Randy Zimmerman manages the county’s excessive liabilities fund, which is used to pay large settlements such as the one in the Armstrong case. As a certified risk manager, Zimmerman also offers input as to which cases brought against the county have merit and which do not – and which cases, if brought to trial, Guilford County might lose.

Zimmerman said he didn’t wish to answer any questions related to this case and he referred all such questions to Payne.

Payne also said he had no comment on the case. Payne said that, since the county’s defense was handled largely by an outside attorney, he didn’t want to offer any statement at this time.

Likewise, Barnes said he had no comment on the incident or the resulting lawsuit.

“The court documents are sealed,” Barnes said.

Though no one is talking publicly about the death and subsequent lawsuit, various public records requests by The Rhinoceros Times allow for a reconstruction of some of the chain of events, though the documents obtained are heavily redacted: In one case, every word of an entire page has been covered by black bars.

On late Sunday morning, Dec. 26, 2010, Armstrong – after exhibiting behavior that jail staff claimed made him either a threat to others, himself or both – was confined in a full-body restraining chair that binds the hands, feet, shoulders, thighs, arms, legs and torso of the inmate.

That followed Christmas Day, during which Armstrong had been in and out of the restraining chair. According to what commissioners were told in one closed session last year, jail staff found Armstrong to be unruly and unmanageable, and he was, officers reported, prone to attack other inmates and guards, and do damage to himself by acts such as banging his head against the wall.

There seems to be a wide consensus among all involved that Armstrong had major mental issues. Reports indicate that, leading up to the incident resulting in his death in late 2010, Armstrong was known to make incomprehensible sounds and one time he reportedly stood naked in his cell, unresponsive to officers’ directives.

The jail log for the old downtown Greensboro jail where Armstrong was awaiting trial contained a report from a detention officer, who begins his account with a briefing that he or she received from another officer on the morning of Monday, Dec. 27.

“During his briefing [another detention officer] stated that inmate Armstrong was in holding cell number one in the restraint chair. He stated that inmate Armstrong was on suicide watch and that he had been in and out of the restraint chair all weekend due to threatening and assaultive behavior. Several times throughout the shift, I visually checked inmate Armstrong and spoke with him each time asking him if he was okay. Each time he relayed that he was all right. At one point during the shift, Nurse [redacted] did a check of his restraints. She stated that [rest of sentence redacted]. I then entered the cell and loosened them slightly and Nurse [remainder of sentence redacted]. Right before 1600 hours, I went to the holding cell and in the presence of [officers name redacted] asked inmate Armstrong if he was ready to come out fo [sic] the restraint chair. He then replied that he was ready and that he wanted something to eat. He stated several times over the next thirty seconds or so that he was ready to come out of the chair. I advised SGT [redacted] of this and she stated that he could be removed. Nurse [redacted] was then called to the main floor to observe inmate Armstrong while he was being removed from the restraint chair. I removed his left shoulder strap and the waist strap. I then loosened both leg straps so he could remove his legs. After that, I maintained control of his handcuffs while OFC [redacted] removed them. He reentered holding cell number one and laid down on a single mattress without a blanket.”

This report continues at 4:14 p.m. with the narrator and several other officers standing around the cell observing Armstrong because he was incoherent and had “urinated in the floor of his cell.”

“I mopped the urine and visually saw inmate Armstrong breathing and making mumbling sounds. As I exited the cell, I asked him if he was going to eat his dinner tray and he crossed his arms over his chest and made mumbling sounds. Within a few minutes, OFC’s [redacted] and [redacted] called out and stated that inmate Armstrong was unresponsive in the holding cell. I then responded and entered with OFC [redacted]. I grabbed his right hand and held it and tried to talk to Armstrong. He did not respond so I [five lines of redacted text follow].

There are highly regulated procedures in the use of restraining chairs – such as how often the inmate must be observed and how often he or she must be released from the chair and walked around. The start and end times of confinement in the chair must be documented. However, it’s not clear how long Armstrong was confined in it.

Accounts conflict as to whether Armstrong was kept in the chair longer than allowed, but there seems to be much agreement that proper procedures regarding the use and/or documentation of the restraining chair were not followed.

One source said the $475,000 settlement payout from Guilford County in this case was a small amount compared to what the family was being paid by Corizon/Prison Health Services.

One person who was in the closed sessions pertaining to the case said that, when Hill spoke to the board, he was emotional as he recounted the events.

“He seemed to be on the verge of tears,” the source said.

Another person, who was a commissioner at the time of the closed session and was present in the briefing, said there was video from the jail that, at some point in the time leading up to the death, showed jail guards escorting Armstrong down a hallway, which meant that Armstrong was up and out of the chair at least at that moment.

While questions regarding the length of time Armstrong was restrained remains, other details are known. At or around 4:30 p.m., according to one report, jail staff went to alert onsite medical staff and have them respond to the situation. Those reports seem to indicate a substandard response from some nurses and also indicate that the jail lacked a charged oxygen tank that should be kept on hand for responding to the medical emergencies such as that experienced by Armstrong.

One incident report states: “I, OFC [redacted], was making juice cups for the evening meal when I heard a call on the radio for the nurse to [sic] main floor from SGT [redacted]. I went to the nurse’s station and advised the four nurses that were in the office. I was then asked by Nurse [redacted] in a rude uncooperative tone why did they need them? I responded with ‘I didn’t know.’ I heard her complaining so I told her that ‘SGT [redacted] is the one that called for you so you can call her if you would like.’ The response I got was, ‘I will.’ A few seconds later all four nurses came around the corner and I heard nurse [redacted] came back [sic] to A-floor and asked me to let her in the nurse’s station so she could get the oxygen. The cart was empty and the tank in the office was empty so we had to go in the storage room and I had to get a new tank and hook it up and take it to main. [The nurse] had to come back again and get the breathing mask a few minutes after that.”

A Dec. 29, 2010 report states that [Armstrong’s mother] was informed of her son’s death.

“I informed her of inmate Armstrong’s death,” the officer stated. “She of course took the news very hard but made comments to questions or comments I made during times when she was composed.”

A review of county liability payouts shows that this was the largest payout of this kind by the county in the last five years, and a longtime county employee familiar with liability payouts from the county’s legal liability fund said that to his knowledge this was the largest payout ever by the county to settle a legal claim.