EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. — The pain on Cristo Canett’s face could be seen in jail video 26 hours before he died on the floor of the El Paso County Jail.
The 48-year-old father did not die of a terminal disease, but of a perforated ulcer, which is a highly treatable and survivable condition if the right kind of health care is available.
Canett is among nine inmates who died in 2022 in the El Paso County Jail under the care of Wellpath, a health care company for jails across the country that has been the target of increasing scrutiny for its practices, including by members of Congress.
9NEWS Investigates found more than 50 lawsuits have been filed in Colorado's U.S. District Court by detainees and families of dead inmates since 2020. Common allegations found in many of the lawsuits accuse Wellpath of understaffing jails and accuse jail nurses of dismissing or not recognizing serious medical conditions.
In a lengthy statement, a Wellpath spokesperson said the company "puts patients at the center of everything" and cited the COVID-19 pandemic, nursing shortages and jail security as challenges for medical staff (read the company's entire statement below).
“Nobody should expect their family member to go to jail to die,” said Elizabeth Naranjo, Canett’s sister, who is suing Wellpath.
Naranjo said her family, especially Canett’s son, has been living with deep grief since he died in agony on the floor of his cell in April of 2022.
“While he was in jail he didn’t get the care that he needed. I put the blame on some of the medical staff,” Naranjo said.
The lawsuit paints Wellpath medical staff as underqualified and dismissive of the severity of Canett's worsening condition.
Nurses not only repeatedly ignored his cries for help, but also ignored jail deputies who requested medical staff to intervene as he moaned in "excruciating pain," the lawsuit alleges.
A nurse eventually sent over-the-counter pain medication to Canett's cell. But a few hours later, deputies found him lifeless on the floor, according to the lawsuit.
As stated in the lawsuit filed by Naranjo, two former Wellpath nurses who worked at the El Paso County Jail the night he died admitted under oath that the health care company repeatedly understaffed the jail.
The nurses acknowledged that understaffing caused a lack of care for inmates and sometimes forced them to practice outside the scope of their medical licenses.
One of the nurses who worked the night Canett died admitted she was often forced to be the head medical professional on staff even though she was only a Licensed Practice Nurse (LPN).
“They would usually say, ‘Well, there’s no one else coming in and we don’t have staff,’” the former Wellpath nurse said during a recorded deposition provided to 9NEWS.
LPNs are not licensed to diagnose incoming patients. However, according to the Canett lawsuit, he was processed by an LPN the night he entered the jail in excruciating pain.
Anna Holland Edwards, a Colorado attorney, filed the Canett lawsuit last year and said that Wellpath has a practice of understaffing jails across the country to maximize profit.
“It happens over and over again because governments keep allowing companies like Wellpath to not perform to their contract," Edwards said. "So you have a for-profit organization who brings a staffing plan that looks good, consistently fails to fill that staffing plan, makes money off failing to fill that staffing plan, and then you don't have enough people in jail to take care of them."
9NEWS Investigates sent several messages and emails to Wellpath for comment on this story over the last week. A spokesperson for the company provided the statement below a few hours before the publication and broadcast of this story.
Wellpath’s entire statement is as follows:
"Wellpath puts patients at the center of everything we do and is proud of the work done by our dedicated health care professionals in Colorado and across the country. We’ve worked tirelessly to address the nursing shortages that are being felt across the health care industry and were significantly exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Our employees are faced with significantly challenging clinical environments and limited by security protocols that are standard practice across the correctional health care field, like the fact that staffing levels are heavily influenced by a number of factors, including decisions by the correctional agency. Despite these operational challenges, our employees work diligently to provide the highest-quality care possible to our patients and the best service to our local government partners and will continue to do so."
El Paso County has also been named as a defendant in the Canett lawsuit. A spokesperson for the county told 9NEWS it does not comment on pending litigation.
Wellpath is still taking in tens of millions of dollars every year in Colorado
The year Canett died in El Paso County, taxpayers gave the company $9.1 million as part of its contract with El Paso County.
In its bid to secure the contract at the jail, Wellpath described itself as a company that provides “high-quality, compassionate care to vulnerable patients.”
Because of so many deaths in the jail in 2022, El Paso County stopped doing business with Wellpath, but that hasn’t stopped other Colorado counties from paying the company millions of dollars every year.
9NEWS Investigates found at least four Colorado counties have active contracts with Wellpath. The amounts shown below are what the counties are expected to pay the company in 2024 for health care services in jails.
- Adams County - $10,704.118.00
- Arapahoe County - $8,428,967.82
- Douglas County - $4,390,576
- Weld County - $7,925,000
If you have any information about this story or would like to send a news tip, contact jeremy.jojola@9news.com.
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