A paralyzed inmate recently released from the J. Reuben Long Detention Center says he had to sit in an unchanged diaper for several days before a nurse helped him change upon his release.
Lamarcus Lawson, 21, is paralyzed from the waist down after he says he was shot in December while walking into a gas station.
His mother, Monique Lawson, says when he was arrested for grand larceny a few weeks ago he was initially taken to the Newhanover Detention Center in Wilmington, NC, where he was put in a hospital bed, given medication, and changed after every bowel movement.
But when he was transported to J. Reuben Long Detention Center, she says he was not given the same treatment, given that they don’t have an infirmary. She says she made multiple calls to the front desk.
“He called me and said, ‘Mom I am sitting in my feces,'” said Lawson. “At the end of the day he is a human, whether he is incarcerated or not, and he needed help.”
Lamarcus said he tried to inform staff he needed to be changed or have help when he first arrived, but he still did not get help.
“The guard was like, ‘The nurse ain’t coming back here to change you’ and I was, like, what you mean? I just need help, I will do most of the work I just need out of my chair,” said Lawson
Lawson says it was on the third day upon his release when a nurse finally helped to change him.
“I felt bad about myself, I’m around all these other inmates, they’re probably smelling it.” said Lawson.
Sergeant Rober Schomp has worked at the detention center for nine years and says he is confident that his nursing staff does a good job and frequently checks on the inmates and tends to their medical needs despite not having an infirmary inside the jail.
“The people that do this for a living have a genuine care for the human needs and spirit,” said Sgt. Schomp.
He says a formal complaint was never filed against the jail from Lawson’s mother. Therefore, they are still working to learn more about the alleged situation.
“Being that there is no complaint, there really is nothing for us to talk about there, but in the future if there is a complaint then all of that information can be gathered,” said Sgt.Schomp.