Corcoran Inmate Starves to Death

[sunkissed]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-
corcoran20feb20,1,4374880.story?coll=la-headlines-california

Corcoran Inmate Starves to Death

Staff didn't notice that the prisoner, an elderly priest with a history
of engaging in hunger strikes, was wasting away, officials say.
By Mark Arax
Times Staff Writer

February 20, 2004

FRESNO — An elderly prison inmate in Corcoran starved to death last
week without medical or corrections staff recognizing that he had begun
the last of several hunger strikes, authorities said.
Officials with the state Department of Corrections said the death of
72-year-old Khem Singh, who was so emaciated that he weighed less than
80 pounds, came as a surprise to staff at the Substance Abuse Treatment
Facility in Corcoran. He was not being monitored at the time for weight
or fluid loss, officials said.
"The whole issue is being investigated," said Margot Bach, a
corrections spokeswoman. "If you're on a food or hunger strike, certain
protocols must be followed. Was there any way this could have been
prevented? That's the question."
Singh, a Sikh priest from India who settled in the small San Joaquin
Valley town of Ceres and spoke little English, had been sentenced to 23
years for inappropriately touching a young girl. He had been visiting
her house to give her Sikh religious lessons.
Behind bars, the priest protested his innocence and refused to see
family members or eat a diet that didn't conform to his cultural
practices, officials said.
"He came to prison in August of 2001 and he's been on and off hunger
strikes ever since," Bach said. "He spent most of his time in his cell
and didn't make his appointments with medical staff."
A corrections administrator who asked not to be named said that Singh's
death was the result of "deliberate indifference" by the prison staff.
"It is inexcusable that an inmate could starve to death with all the
medical policies and procedures that are mandated by the courts. It
absolutely should never happen," he said.
Because Singh was a sex offender, he was being housed for his own
safety at the substance abuse facility, which sits adjacent to Corcoran
State Prison and is considered a less hostile environment.
Kings County Coroner Rene Hanavan said Singh died Saturday of heart and
lung failure due to "self-imposed starvation." Singh, who stood
5-foot-6, hadn't been placed on any special watch or given any special
fluids despite being severely emaciated, he said.
"It appears that the starvation was on and off for a three-month
period," Hanavan said. "He had to be drinking or eating something
during that time because, if not, he would have died a lot sooner."
Corrections investigators will try to determine if medical neglect
played a role in Singh's death, officials said.
In a related case, Kings County prosecutors are continuing to
investigate a Feb. 1 incident at Corcoran State Prison in which a
58-year-old inmate on dialysis was allowed to bleed to death in his
cell during the Super Bowl.

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Copyright 2004 Los Angeles Times