HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- The last time Tanyatta Woods spoke to her son, manacles were fastened around his ankles, even though he could not stand. Guards rolled the young man into the Huntsville courtroom in a wheelchair.

"He was a healthy 19-year-old when he went in there," said Tanyatta Woods, speaking with local media for the first time about her son dying of gangrene inside the Madison County jail.

Deundrez Woods, an all-city wrestler at Huntsville High School, had been enrolled in summer school in 2013 when he was arrested for using a phony $100 bill at Wal-Mart. He was sentenced to jail for 60 days. His mother says the jail time was the result of an unpaid speeding ticket.

He'd been locked up for about three weeks when he appeared in court. But by then, she says, her son looked all wrong.

She said his eyes were crusted over, his mouth was dry, his legs didn't work, and even more distressingly, he was hallucinating. He called the guard "grandfather." She says he did not recognize his own mother. He talked nonsense.

She said guards told her that the boy had mental problems. But she said that he had no history of mental problems. Coach Cliff Pate at Huntsville High on Thursday agreed.

"He was a hard worker. He was a nice kid. He stood up for his teammates," said Pate, saying Deundrez qualified for the state wrestling tournament as a freshman. He said he could imagine Deundrez in trouble for speeding, but not much else. He said there certainly was no indication of mental issues. "He was a smart kid," said Pate.

After seeing his confused state in municipal court, his mother began to ask that her son be taken to the hospital. Instead, after court, they rolled him back into the jail. She said she never spoke to him again.

"You have to be there 30 days before you can see your son," said Woods of jail policy. "And he only lived 27 days."

On Oct. 14, Woods sued Madison County, Sheriff Blake Dorning, jail administrators and the jail medical personnel for cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

Her suit contends they left her son naked on the floor of a medical watch cell for five days. He didn't eat. He didn't drink. He just rolled around some as the gangrene, which had confused his mind, slowly worked its way through his body, eventually leading to a fatal blood clot.

The suit contends by Aug. 17 the infection was obvious. Woods' gangrenous foot had begun to smell "so bad the correctional officers dragged Woods from his cell to the shower, sprayed him with water and then placed him, still naked, in a different cell." But Woods was still not sent to a hospital.

The suit extends beyond the one death, arguing that that Madison County has "an explicit or implicit agreement or plan to delay or deny necessary medical care to avoid having to pay for medical care."

Woods was just one of three individuals who were booked into the Madison County jail for low-level offenses in 2013 and soon died of treatable maladies, including broken bones, bowel obstruction and gangrene.

Hank Sherrod, a civil rights attorney in Florence, filed separate lawsuits last year on behalf of all three families.

As far as the Woods's case, Madison County in November denied responsibility.

"Alabama counties have limited involvement with the jails and jail staff in their territory, mostly restricted to funding and physical maintenance," wrote George Royer, attorney for Madison County. "It is exclusively the Sheriff's responsibility to provide medical attention to inmates incarcerated in his Jail."

Royer, who is also representing Sheriff Dorning and jail administrator Steve Morrison, then claimed immunity for those two, as each was acting in their official capacities. Royer argued that the subcontract calls for the medical personnel to "operate the healthcare program in a humane manner."

That means it's the medical contractor's responsibility to determine appropriate care, argues Royer. The county and Sheriff Dorning moved to dismiss the claims against them.

But on Jan. 7, U.S. District Judge Inge Johnson denied their motions. The lawsuit can go forward.

Johnson also held that the number of similar cases and the inmate grievances could be used to attempt to argue that there was a pattern so obvious that Madison County was aware of constitutional violations.

Meanwhile, the medical provider, Advanced Correctional Healthcare, did not move to dismiss the claims. But ACH has denied allegations that no one checked on Woods, that no one took his vital signs, and that he was denied basic care.

Sherrod more recently has elaborated on his claims. Sherrod argues that the county creates incentives to deny care for basic ailments and injuries. Madison County allotted $200,000 per quarter to cover medical expenses outside the jail, meaning hospital visits.

However, Sherrod contends the medical contractor ACH gets to keep as profit any of the $200,000 that isn't spent. Sherrod provided records showing ACH did not spend the full amount at anytime in 2013. "When they should have been spending the money to save the lives of Tanisha Jefferson, Deundrez Woods and Nikki Listau," he said.

Judge Johnson this month found that Woods could argue the medical contract allowed ACH to keep the money that wasn't spent on care, and therefore "provided an incentive to ACH, which had sole discretion over medical decisions, to deny outside medical referrals. These allegations are sufficient to state a claim against the County so as to survive a motion to dismiss."

Royer did not return an emailed request for comment for this story. Nor did H.C. Ireland, who represents ACH.

"These Defendants deny that their alleged actions and/or inactions violated the appropriate standard of care and further deny that their alleged actions and/or inactions proximately caused the Decedent's death," wrote attorneys for ACH in court filings late last year.

As for Woods, the suit says the jailers responded to Woods's condition with aggression. "Woods was tased on at least three occasions." All three were after he was placed in a separate cell for medical observation. One was the night before he was rolled into court.

The suit contends his vital signs were not taken from Aug. 7 until he was found near death early on Aug. 19. The suit says jail records show that Woods did not eat for five days, and that his water supply was cut off after Aug. 12. The suit argues he lay naked on the medical cell floor from Aug. 14 to Aug. 19, "dying before the eyes of correctional and ACH personnel."

Tanyatta Woods, who said she is a nurse's assistant and pharmaceutical tech, said she appealed to jail officials and spoke to nurses following the court appearance. She said she called the jail and at times spoke to jail nurses on Aug. 15, Aug. 16, Aug. 17 and Aug. 18. "I said I really need him to go to the hospital," said Woods.

An officer called her late on the afternoon of Aug. 19. "He said Ms. Woods we have some bad news. You son is in the hospital." Deundrez Woods was no longer making noise nor moving when they sent him to the hospital.

Tanyatta Woods said by the time she saw him he was on life support and died two days later.

Woods said her family moved from Mississippi to Huntsville about 12 years ago. Deundrez attended West Huntsville Elementary, Stone Middle and then transferred into Huntsville High, where he lettered in wrestling and played football. She said he would have earned his diploma at the completion of summer school in 2013.

But court records show that Woods ran into a string of small-time offenses in 2013. He got a speeding ticket. Then he was picked up in June for shoplifting Star Wars DVDs at Wal-Mart. His mother says he was with a group of girls at that time. Then he was arrested on July 19 at another Wal-Mart for passing a phony $100 bill. She says that a friend had given him the bill in exchange for cash.

In the end, the second arrest for the counterfeit $100 alerted police to failure to appear on the speeding ticket. She said that's what earned him the 60 days.

She said Deundrez had plans to attend art school in Georgia. Deundrez also had a one-year-old son, Jailyn, when he was sent behind bars. Now she is helping raise her grandson with the boy's mother.

"It was real hard because I lost the thing that was closest to me," said his older brother, Justin Ross on Thursday, standing in the family room in north Huntsville. "That was my teammate, all my life."

"His life ended too soon," said Tanyatta Woods, who held a file of certificates related to Deundrez's accomplishments in sports and in school. "Not tending to him, without food for days, no water for days, not checking on him, you didn't do your jobs.

Sherrod's amended lawsuit adds claims of yet three more deaths from denial of care before 2013, bringing the total to six in 2 and half years. "There's no reason these families should be going through this," said Sherrod on Thursday.

Click here for video of Tanyatta Woods speaking with WHNT News 19.