At first, Sandra Pinchback thought her son Curtis Garland’s death in a Texas prison after an asthma attack made sense. She had been worried that the prison in rural East Texas was in the really muggy part of the state and had no air conditioning when he was first incarcerated. And then in July 2014, when the prison chaplain called and told her her son had died after an asthma attack she thought, "Well, maybe the good Lord went on and took him because he had suffered for so long with asthma." Problem is, that was a lie: medical neglect/indifference killed her son. Within three days Pinchback would start receiving letters from other prison inmates who had witnessed her son’s agony over several hours. Inmates who had witnessed him asking for help; inmates who tried to get him the assistance he needed; inmates who said they would testify if she needed them to. Sandra Pinchback received close to 50 letters saying all of these things.
Marchelo Faulkner, one of the last people to try to get help for Garland, spoke on the death of his friend this past January.
At this point, Faulkner estimates, more than six hours had passed since Garland first sought medical help. By 10:30 p.m., Garland's lips had turned purple, he said.
"He looked bad. You could see death on this man's face," Faulkner said, his voice quavering as he recounts the story and how Garland kept repeating, "I'm fixing to die."
"I am only an inmate. What can I do? The only thing I can do is ask the man. So after I ask them, I go back and say to Curtis, 'You're going to be all right, man. We're going to get you down to medical,' " Faulkner recalled.
That's when Garland attempted to stand on his own to shuffle his way to the restroom. He instead urinated on himself.
The atmosphere became tense as other inmates grew agitated while watching what was happening, Faulkner said.
Faulkner dragged Garland's heaving body to the gate nearest the infirmary and demanded assistance, drawing the attention of another officer who recognized the severity of the prisoner's condition. That officer, according to Faulkner, was so disturbed by what he saw he began shaking as he attempted to open the gate.
"He finally got the gate open, and we tried to get Curtis out the gate and get him down the hallway. They called on the walkie-talkie, 'We need assistance down to M-Wing,' " Faulkner said.
The responding officer told Faulkner to put Garland down or he'd risk getting in trouble. Faulkner said he reluctantly complied, a move he now regrets.
"I did a messed up move by laying him down because he kept saying, 'I'm fixing to die, I'm fixing to die,' " Faulkner said.
"He started sweating even more. His body and face started turning purple and the man lost his bowels, then his eyes go in back of his head (and) he stopped breathing."
Two officers responded and began performing CPR, pumping his chest, but it was too late, Faulkner said.
"Curtis was dead," Faulkner said. "If that officer was doing his job like he (was) supposed to and would have helped that man seek medical attention, that could have been avoided."
Curtis Garland was one of 620 people to die in Texas custody in 2014. More than likely many of those deaths, like Garland’s, probably could have been prevented.
Pinchback and her family have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the prison, alleging Garland died a painful death while gasping for air; and that prison officials ignored doctors and other inmates as well as pleas from Garland. They are seeking compensatory damages. Pinchback has enlisted the help of Cory Session with the Innocence Project of Texas. Session’s brother, also an asthmatic, died in a Texas jail in 1999.