A 44-year-old man says Silverdale Detention Center’s medical officials neglected to treat a fractured jaw that required immediate surgery after another inmate hurt him during a fight earlier this year.
Todd Russell is asking for $500,000 from CoreCivic, a private prison operator that has managed the Silverdale for Hamilton County since 1984, as well as the facility’s medical provider, CorrectCare Solutions. His is the third legal complaint this year against CoreCivic and its partners, including a claim that a mother of four died after being pepper sprayed in the face, and a claim that Silverdale improperly put a seizure-prone man on a top bunk.
According to the lawsuit, filed Monday in Hamilton County Circuit Court, Russell arrived at Silverdale on Jan. 23 for new charges that triggered a probation violation. But an argument with another inmate “escalated into a violent confrontation” that left Russell with a fractured jaw, missing teeth and nerve damage, the suit says. Though Russell’s wounds were “immediate and apparent to any casual observer,” the suit says nobody at the facility responded to his requests for medical help.
CoreCivic declined to comment and a county official could not be reached for comment.
Nearly 24 hours later, the suit says, officials transported Russell to Erlanger hospital after a chance encounter with Jason Clark, the county corrections superintendent. There, the suit says, Erlanger staff told an accompanying CoreCivic guard that Russell needed immediate surgery, but the guard said Russell needed to return to Silverdale so officials could “make any decisions as to Plaintiff’s medical care.”