A man in New Mexico has been awarded $22 million after being tossed in solitary confinement for 2 years following a DWI arrest. KOB-TV's Marissa Torres reports.
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By Elizabeth Chuck, msnbc.com
A New Mexico man who?said he was?forced to pull his own tooth while in solitary confinement because he was denied access to a dentist has been awarded $22 million due to inhumane treatment by New Mexico's Dona Ana County Jail.
Stephen Slevin was arrested in August of 2005 for driving while intoxicated, then thrown in jail for two years, reported NBC station KOB.com Tuesday night. He was in solitary at Dona Ana County Jail for his entire sentence and basically forgotten about and never given a trial, he told?KOB.com.
"'[Prison officials were] walking by me every day, watching me deteriorate," he said. "Day after day after day, they did nothing, nothing?at all,?to get me any help."
Slevin's toenails started curling around his foot because they were so long, he told KOB.com. He said he made countless requests from day?one to see a doctor to get medication for his depression, but wasn't allowed to see one until only a few weeks before his release. He had numerous health problems, including his dental issues, he said.
He said he never saw a judge during his time in confinement. His lawsuit, he said, "has never been about the money. I've always wanted this to make a statement."
The $22 million settlement, awarded by a federal jury on Tuesday, is one of the largest prisoner civil rights settlements in?U.S. history,?according to KOB.com.
"I wanted people to know that there are?people at The Dona Ana County Jail that?are doing things like this to people and getting away with it," Slevin, who now suffers from PTSD and believes he will have to take medication for life as a result, said. "Why they did what they did, I have no idea."
Neither the county nor Slevin's attorney returned phone calls from msnbc.com, but Slevin's attorney, Matt Coyte, told KOB.com, "I have never been with or seen a braver man who stood up to these guys for what they did to him ... [This case] It affects everybody and it's not good for this country. It's not good for Mr. Slevin for sure and it's not good for this country. It has to stop."
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