What's Mom Worth?: When a Woman Became Deathly Ill in Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Jail, Guards and Nurses Ignored Her Agony

A powder sniffer's closet has more willing witnesses than coat hangers. Every friend is weighing betrayal: When do I give up Deborah for a reduced sentence?

No one had a real job. We were all chameleons, scoring from each other and ripping each other off. Hell, they bust into my home with masks and guns and grab everything of value. You think those were strangers?

Deborah Braillard, mother

Deposition of Sandra Garfias

Details

To see videotaped depositions with sources in this story, as well as a videotaped interview with Deborah Braillard's daughter, Jennylee, click, here or on the names below:

Lucy Akpan
Jennylee Braillard
Sandra Garfias
Tamela Harper
Stephanie Lieppert
Brenda Tomanini
Dr. Todd Wilcox

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Editor’s note: In 2007, New Times executive editor Michael Lacey and CEO Jim Larkin were arrested by Sheriff Joe Arpaio for reporting on a grand jury. A subsequent investigation by the paper revealed that the grand jury subpoenas were issued without a sitting grand jury. In addition to all reporter’s notes relating to articles about the sheriff, prosecutors sought the identity of online readers of New Times. Michael Manning filed a lawsuit on behalf of the paper in the wake of the arrests. That lawsuit is currently on appeal.

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More About

• Deborah Braillard
• Joe Arpaio
• Todd Wilcox
• Metabolic Disorders
• Internal Medicine

The Man owns the paperwork and the rights to my life.

My dodge isn't so artful after all.

Jennylee Braillard, daughter

(2010 interviews)

"Driving anywhere with my mom was great. She had great taste in music. Once, I got my hair cut and she cut her hair just like mine. She was exciting and fun."

Elaine Clayton, registered nurse,

County Health Services

(2007/2010 deposition and interviews)

When guards Lieppert and Akpan called the medical clinic, they were informed that Deborah would be seen when there was a doctor.

Clayton was in the clinic when Dennis Flynn, acting upon the call from Jennylee regarding her mother's insulin, phoned to warn about Deborah's condition.

But Jennylee's phone call is noted as coming at 7 a.m.

Flynn, the County Health Services risk manager, did not relay her emergency message for two full hours. He phoned the clinic at 9 a.m.

Records show that the clinic did not call for Deborah Braillard until 9:45 a.m., nearly three hours after the daughter notified the county.

"They brought her into the clinic. She sat in the chair. She was very, very lethargic and placed on a stretcher. She was sweating and having a difficult time breathing.

"Breathing became more labored. She looked like death."

Clayton observed that there was no capacity for emergency response.

"The policy was: You called dispatch. Dispatch would then ask a number of questions: identity of inmate, where they were going, could they go in [a] county vehicle, or did they need an ambulance. Then, call [the] sergeant and supply more details. Then, dispatch selects an ambulance company, which must find the jail."

In this case, Clayton argued for the fastest possible response: Call 911.

Instead, CHS followed guidelines and called a commercial ambulance.

"It was the difference between life and death.

"There's a look and sound that people make when they are dying, and she looked and sounded like someone who was dying."

The ambulance arrived at 10 a.m., three hours after Jennylee had raised the red flag.

Clayton worked at CHS for two years before quitting in disgust.

"I saw some incredibly horrible things happen, and I saw no action being taken or visible action being taken to correct the incredible lack of competent healthcare."

Jennylee Braillard, daughter

(2010 interviews)

"When I got to the hospital [where Deborah was now in a coma], she looked horrible. She was chained to the bed with these big old metal chains. There was a tube down her throat. They said that because of the lack of oxygen she would never be the same. Right from the start, they wanted me to unplug her, but I wouldn't."

Deborah Braillard, mother

By the time I left the sheriff's jail, the pain was much worse than childbirth.

Do you think Joe Arpaio understands how I suffered? Shoot, you think Joe Arpaio understands the agony of childbirth. Chop a man's finger off during Lamaze. That would be a start!

These guards are Arpaio's women. A wiser woman than me said it right: "Fear was invented by someone who never had the fear."

My life left me at both ends of my body: I soiled my pillow and soiled my pants. My body was so torqued it tried to escape in convulsions.

They looked past my death rattle and ripped me away from Pumpkin.

I scream to Jesus.

Elaine Clayton, R.N.

(2007/2010 depositions and interviews)

"Inmates sent tank orders — kites — which were requests for medical care. CHS was supposed to prioritize those requests.

"Oftentimes, it would be days before any of them would be looked at . . . The chances of an appointment for care actually coming to fruition were small . . . They were backlogged by hundreds of appointments."

It wasn't simply that the medical clinic ignored inmates kicking drugs — they ignored everyone."There was a person in the jail with cancer on his tongue, and they made him wait to see a doctor. He waited four or five months. When you have a cancerous growth, you see a doctor as soon as possible.

"Another one I'll never forget said, 'I need medical attention. I'm bleeding from my nose, rectum, and mouth.' That person came to the clinic, was not seen, and was returned to the jail. Second visit produced no results. Finally, jailers called on Saturday when I was in. I checked urine and bowel samples and found blood. When I went to get oxygen . . . I got the tank and turned it on. Nothing. The tank was empty. Her vital signs were not within normal limits. She was bleeding internally, and I called for an ambulance.

"The place is incredibly understaffed for both nurses and doctors. I was often the only licensed nurse. I had an aide with no skills. We dealt with 1,200 to 1,500 inmates. If a doctor was sick, no one covered. If there was a meeting, no doctor. They'd schedule 150 visits a day. If they saw 30, they felt good. Yeah, nurses did not respond to withdrawals. Any wonder?"