TEXARKANA, Texas —The lawyer representing the family of a diabetic 20-year-old who died in a local jail cell is asking a federal judge to order the private company managing the jail to turn over records concerning other in-custody deaths.

Morgan Angerbauer died of diabetic ketoacidosis in the early hours of July 1, 2016, at the Bi-State Justice Building in downtown Texarkana. The jail is managed by LaSalle Corrections.

Former licensed vocational nurse Brittany Johnson pleaded guilty to misdemeanor negligent homicide in November 2017 and was ordered to serve six months in the Miller County jail. She lost her nursing license.

Angerbauer's parents filed a wrongful death suit in the Texarkana Division of the Eastern District of Texas seeking redress for their loss. The case is set for a jury trial next year.

Texarkana lawyer David Carter recently filed a motion to compel seeking internal investigation documents for in-custody deaths which have occurred at other LaSalle -managed jails across the state of Texas since 2013, the year LaSalle took over management of the jail.

Carter's motion notes that he was not provided a "serious incident review" in Angerbauer's case until July despite having requested copies of all internal investigation reports in the summer of 2018. Carter is now asking the court to order LaSalle to turn over copies of serious incident reviews or critical incident reports likely created in 18 other deaths at jails, including Bowie County, which LaSalle manages in Texas.

Carter's motion argues that LaSalle has a pattern and practice of falisfying both logs documenting required face-to-face checks of inmates and employee training records.

"LaSalle internal reviews and reports are extremely relevant to plaintiffs' punitive damage claims. The recent Bi-State Jail deaths of inmates Greathouse and Rodden reveal that the practice of failing to conduct state mandated face to face observations and falsifying activity logs continues to occur unabated. Apparently the only time LaSalle reviews video footage to determine whether its employees have conducted observations recorded on paper is when an inmate dies in custody," the motion to compel states.

Franklin Greathouse, 59, died March 11. Michael Rodden, 48, died July 6. In both deaths the Texas Commission on Jail Standards found that the required face-to-face checks were not being performed. Bowie County has remained on the commission's list of non-compliant jails since a special inspection in August triggered by Rodden's in-custody death.

"Plaintiffs also requested, and LaSalle has refused to produce, copies of all disciplinary action taken against LaSalle employees from January of 2014 to present based on findings that the employee either falsified records or failed to conduct required face to face detainee/inmate checks at LaSalle's Texas facilities," the motion states.

The motion alleges that LaSalle has also failed to produce copies of any new medical protocols in place since a new medical director was hired earlier this year.

"The court should also require LaSalle to produce its current medical protocols and insulin sliding scales because an appropriate open records request was made for records concerning operation of a public jail in Texas, and neither Bowie County nor LaSalle have articulated that any exceptions to the Texas Freedom of Information Act are applicable," the motion states.

The motion points to a federal judge's order in a pending federal suit stemming from a death in a LaSalle-managed Parker County jail in connection with his request for LaSalle to search it's computers for documents such as emails concerning the falsification of jail records and offender checks.

"Texans are dying in alarming numbers at LaSalle facilities due to deprivation of fundamental constitutional rights. The stakes could not be higher. LaSalle has access to all of the disputed items, and Plaintiffs have no access to them. The disputed items also go to the heart of resolving the issue of whether LaSalle failed to conduct required face to face observations and/or falsified documents in the deaths of the other 18 individuals," the motion states.

About a year prior to Angerbauer's death, Michael Sabbie died in the jail after being pepper sprayed while complaining that he couldn't breathe. The case settled for an undislcosed amount in August. Carter filed suit on behalf of a man who claims he was beaten and denied medical care during a two-day stay at the jail in 2018. William Scott Jones alleges he has racked up $1 million in medical bills since he was released from custody and hospitalized for a month. According to the complaint, video shows Jones had no injuries when he was booked.

Angerbauer's and Jones' cases are currently pending before U.S. Magistrate Judge Caroline Craven and U.S. District Judge Robert Schroeder III. Angerbauer's case is scheduled for jury selection March 16 before Schroeder.

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