A man arrested during a mental health crisis was put in a solitary confinement cell at an Arkansas county jail — where he died of malnutrition and dehydration after he couldn’t afford bail, his brother’s lawsuit says.
Larry Eugene Price Jr. was 50 years old, homeless and weighed 185 pounds when he arrived at Sebastian County jail and had his bail set at $1,000 in August 2020, according to a complaint filed in federal court on Jan. 13.
Over the course of a year, Price “awaited his day in court,” and was neglected by jail staff as he lost nearly 100 pounds, resembling a famine victim, the complaint says. On the day of his death, Price weighed 90 pounds with a “morbidly skeletal appearance” on August 29, 2021, according to the complaint.
Now his brother Rodney Price is suing Sebastian County, Turn Key Health Clinics, LLC, the healthcare corporation providing medical services to people at the jail, a Turn Key psychiatrist and nurse, and several other unnamed defendants over Price’s death.