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

But the system is a beast.

As long ago as 1996, the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division found that Sheriff Joe Arpaio's jails violated the Constitution and that healthcare in them was "seriously deficient."

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

In 1997, Arpaio's jails were the only county jail, to be investigated by Amnesty International, which condemned the conditions in the sheriff's jails.

Yet not only were the details of the federal legal proceedings withheld from Dr. Wilcox, he was misled as to their import.

"The details of the amended judgment were not reviewed with us and, in fact, the information that was presented to us was that this was pretty much a dead case."

He was not shown the March 25, 1996, letter from the Department of Justice that found that detention officers were not responsive, that inmates were not adequately assessed during intake by personnel with sufficient medical training, and that appointments with healthcare were frequently missed.

He was never shown the 1999 binding agreement between the DOJ and the county regarding unconstitutional healthcare conditions. On page 3 of that letter, the sheriff promised that anybody doing intake screening of inmates would be appropriately trained by CHS. Furthermore, intake screeners would take a look at arrest reports as part of screening. (Braillard's intake deputy had not been trained, did not look at the police report that documented her need for medication, and blew through detailed paperwork. The screening process involved seven different computer screens that had to be individually filled out and saved. Yet Deputy Cindy Rodriguez did it, as noted, in 59 seconds)

Dr. Wilcox was not shown the 2000 Moore and Associates report that detailed the continued unconstitutional medical conditions in Arpaio's jails.

Nor was he shown the 2003 Bosch study that, yet again, pointed out the ever-present unconstitutional medical conditions.

"I am shocked at those documents . . . I have never seen any of those."

The Justice Department also determined that the sheriff's recordkeeping was a farce.

Dr. Wilcox found that the medical records were backlogged for a full year.

"When I toured the medical records, I found upwards of 60,000 pages of unfiled documentation in the medical record section."

He was ordered by county liaisons to the Board of Supervisors not to put the incriminating data in writing.

"We owed the county a report about the state of CHS . . . What we found [was not] legal, and we were instructed to pull those from the report and to brief them only verbally."

The report was prepared during the period that Deborah Braillard was incarcerated.

That same year, 2005, the jail saw its medical accreditation put in limbo.

"For the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, this is a remarkable event. NCCHC is a very positive organization. They try very hard to help agencies with changes and compliance.

"For them to put a facility on probation was a rather remarkable step for them," acknowledged Dr. Wilcox.

Deborah Braillard, mother

(1991)

The banging on the door is loud.

JESUS LORD!! COPS!

They start kicking in the freakin' door. Everyone's yelling. My God, my God, I can't get out. Where do I hide? I can't hide! Fuck, FUCK. Flush the drugs . . . Everyone's running around the house terri-fucking-fied.

Before anything could be dumped in the toilet, the cops were inside, and when the yelling settled down, they had all three of us.

They found eight bindles in my bedroom closet, and under my bed, a mirror, a cocaine pipe, and a few rocks.

Even now, my heart races when I think about it. WHY? WHY? WHY?

Thank God my mother's taking care of Jennylee.

I live with Jean Yvonne Ford in Kirkland, Washington. In February, Jean bought some cocaine from an undercover cop while carrying additional cocaine and a syringe in her bra, more drugs in every pocket, and a couple of thousand dollars cash — not to mention an accounting sheet with all of her drug transactions. Brilliant, right?

Under the circumstances, Jean got real cooperative.

Jean told the cops she had another four ounces of coke in her safe at home, as well as three grand in bills. She told the cops they could search her home and that they would find her son, Kenneth Rogers, Rene Duran, and me.

I admitted I sold the rocks for my rent. Smoked my fair share, too.

They read me my Miranda rights, which was about the first time that happened, but not the last.

Jennylee Braillard, daughter

(2010 interviews)

"I have always been the type, if someone is in a coma, I believe they recognize you being there. One nurse told me, 'Just keep talking to her. She can hear you. I've seen some pretty wild things happen.'

"They cut her hair, which would have upset her. It upset me."

"And all the time, the doctors kept up the pressure to unplug her.

"We told them if her heart stopped, don't revive her."

Because Deborah's body retained fluids, she swelled grotesquely.

"The big enormous chain around her ankle . . . it was embedded in her leg. Her organs shut down."

Arpaio's deputy, stationed near Deborah, refused to unshackle the woman, though Jennylee said her mom was released from jail once she was sent to the emergency room.