Raleigh Priester

Raleigh Morris Priester was a U.S. Army veteran who lived in Broward County, FL. He struggled with severe mental health issues, including schizophrenia, and was arrested for throwing a rock at a city employee who had asked him to leave a parking lot.

Priester spent much of his incarceration in solitary confinement, without medication. He suffered from various infections, lay for weeks at a time “in a fetal position on the cell floor” and could not sit, stand, eat or drink without assistance, according to a lawsuit filed by his family. A forensic psychologist sent to assess his competency to stand trial found him “suffering with significant symptoms of physical decomposition” including “acute hypotension and dehydration.” During a weeklong stay at a hospital, he was prescribed a high calorie diet and treated for infections of his blood, lungs and feet. Priester was discharged back to the jail, where staff did not provide him with the medication ordered by the hospital, according to the lawsuit.

Priester weighed 240 pounds when he entered the county jail; at the time of his death five months later, he weighed just 120 pounds. According to his family's lawsuit, Priester "slowly died from starvation" while employees of the jail and Armor Correctional Health Services, the private company contracted to deliver healthcare in the jail, denied him adequate care.

The Broward County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on the specifics of Priester’s case, but stated: “Sheriff Dr. Gregory Tony has been very critical about the incarceration of people experiencing mental illness. Despite the fact that the Broward Sheriff’s Office contracts with an outside vendor for inmate healthcare, Sheriff Dr. Tony has highlighted the mental health crisis in jails and implored criminal justice and community stakeholders to seek alternatives to incarceration for this vulnerable population. He has said time and time again, ‘No one believes that the jail is the most appropriate setting to treat those experiencing mental illness, but unfortunately, it has been and remains the primary mental health provider in our community.’”

Armor Correctional Health Services did not respond to the Lab’s request for comment.

A full account of the lawsuit—including the estate’s allegations against Armor Correctional Health Services, Broward County and others, as well as each party’s response—is available through PACER (Case Case 0:14-cv-61577, Southern District of Florida).

• IN THE NEWS (Warning: Disturbing Contents)
  • Article One
  • Article Two
• LITIGATION (Warning: Disturbing Contents)
  • Complaint
  • Answer from Armor Correctional Health Services