FORT WORTH - Calling from a Tarrant County Jail phone in early June, Adrienne Lemons chatted with her 3-year-old son, Chase, and told her ex-husband in Louisiana that she was not getting antibiotics for an infection.

The Dallas woman, 35, was in jail because of unpaid traffic tickets. Ten days after being booked, she was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital, where she died within hours.

Lemons' relatives said Wednesday that they still don't know why she didn't get medical help sooner.

"It is a tragic thing that my sister goes in for some traffic tickets and comes out dead," said her brother Shannon Woodrome, 37, of Little Elm. "I can see an infection killing someone in the 1600s or the 1700s, but that shouldn't happen today."

A spokeswoman for the hospital declined to comment, citing federal privacy law. JPS Health Network operates the hospital and provides health care at the Tarrant County Jail.

An autopsy was performed on Lemons' body, but the cause of death won't be determined until toxicology and histology results are complete, said Linda Anderson, a spokeswoman for the Tarrant County medical examiner's office.

Gene Kent, Lemons' ex-husband, said that in her call, Lemons told him that she had a staph infection and was supposed to be taking antibiotics but that she was not being given her medication.

While at the minimum-security Cold Springs jail, Lemons had complained about pain near her shoulder and threatened to cut her wrists rather than endure the pain, Tarrant County Sheriff's spokesman Terry Grisham said. That threat triggered a transfer to a solitary cell at a downtown jail.

Jailers are not involved in medical care. Inmates file requests for healthcare, called kites, which are processed by JPS staff members, who are responsible for distributing medications, Grisham said.

JPS officials, citing privacy laws, declined to say whether Lemons' condition was known when she was booked into jail or if she was being administered any medications.

JPS came under harsh criticism in 2005 for failing to provide adequate medical care at Tarrant County jails. A Star-Telegram. investigation of healthcare conditions at the jails after 10 inmate deaths in 2005 revealed staffing shortages, inadequate supplies, broken and obsolete equipment, and patient records, including inmate requests for medical care, in tatters.

A consultant hired by the county found JPS responsible for many of the shortcomings. JPS responded by bolstering staffing and hiring a new medical director.

Lemons was jailed for driving with a suspended license, a Class B misdemeanor, according to court records. She had a court hearing scheduled June 13, the day she died. Court clerks could not be reached late Wednesday for more details.

Woodrome said he had to wait 3 1/2 hours after his sister's death before he was allowed to see her.

"The chaplain told us that it took so long because the doctor wouldn't sign the death certificate, and we were told they were treating it like a crime scene," Woodrome said. "Something is wrong.  . . . For that infection to be so widespread throughout her body, she would have been in pain for days. The whole thing is just kind of fishy."

Kent, 35, an aviation mechanic at Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City, La., said Lemons left Louisiana in November. He said she called frequently to speak with her son, described by relatives as a short, blond surfer boy who is always happy.

"She called all the time, and he knew exactly who she was when he talked to her," Kent said. "I tried explaining what happened, but he doesn't understand. He knows something was wrong, though, because he was asking me why I was crying."

Lemons, known as Sissy by friends and family, graduated from high school in 1991 and later became a licensed nurse's aide, her brother said. She also has a 16-year-old daughter.

Lemons' body likely will be cremated and placed into two urns, relatives said.

"The plan is to give one to her family and one to her son so he'll have a place to go see his mama," Kent said. "I still wonder how I will tell him when he gets a little older."

Staff writer Andrew Chavez contributed to this report, which includes material from Star-Telegram archive

Source:  Star-Telegram.com

              

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mom  - prison   |2008-07-10 13:24:56 This is stuff happens a lot in prison. My son is there and tells me things the jailers and the system does to them and its not pretty sometimes. My son too had a staph infection and they would not do anything for him until it looked horrible and spread all over his body. He paid for the doctor and the trasportation to the doctor because we had been sending money to him. Jail is not free. Reply | Quote

Ex-Employee   |2008-07-21 20:42:17 With the history of Tarrant County the way I know it, nothing will happen in this case it will all be her fault, just like in other autopsy cases it will be natural causes or heart attack Tarrant County is never at fault check for youself. Wake up people can't you see what is happening. Reply | Quote

the Editor  - re: prison   |2008-07-21 21:34:14 mom wrote: This is stuff happens a lot in prison. My son is there and tells me things the jailers and the system does to them and its not pretty sometimes. My son too had a staph infection and they would not do anything for him until it looked horrible and spread all over his body. He paid for the doctor and the trasportation to the doctor because we had been sending money to him. Jail is not free. That's pretty rough. Whoever refused him treatment should be slapped. Did you contact any of your local officials about it? If you vote in local elections, you might be able to play your vote like a card to get some results. Reply | Quote

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