Pretrial detainee claims medical care denied in Riv. jail

Another Riverside jail detainee has sued the county on allegations that their jail failed to provide medical services. Crystal Hancock alleges her medical discharge instructions, prescription medications and antibiotics were seized from her when she was held at Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility.

The Riverside Sheriff's Office does not comment on pending litigation.

Hancock's attorney, Dan Bolton of Walter Clark Legal Group, wrote in an email that constitutional rights do not disappear at the jailhouse door, and quoted the landmark Supreme Court case Estelle v. Gamble (1976): "We therefore conclude that deliberate indifference to serious medical needs of prisoners constitutes the ‘unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain’ proscribed by the Eighth Amendment. This is true whether the indifference is manifested by prison doctors in their response to the prisoner’s needs or by prison guards in intentionally denying or delaying access to medical care.”

Crystal Hancock was detained at the jail on Feb. 9. She has not since been charged with a crime, and at the time was a pretrial detainee, held for a minor and non-violent offense.

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