A man who suffered for weeks in the El Paso County jail with a visibly-infected leg and ultimately wound up in the emergency room cannot sue jail staff for ignoring his life-threatening medical needs, a federal judge has ruled.

Daniel W. Plutt was serving a 90-day sentence in the county’s Criminal Justice Center, with staff aware he had recently undergone a leg amputation prior to entering the jail. In late December 2019, he repeatedly sought medical attention when it became clear something was wrong around the amputation site. Although he eventually received antibiotics, the pain and signs of infection returned in January 2020, forcing Plutt to seek a furlough from the jail to go to the hospital.

Plutt alleged El Paso County Sheriff’s Office personnel and the private companies providing medical services in the jail violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment by letting his condition worsen. But last week, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Philip A. Brimmer believed Plutt had not linked the county or its employees to an actual constitutional violation.

“Plaintiff’s complaint fails to plead that each EPSO defendant was aware of the life-threatening nature of plaintiff’s infection in January 2020,” Brimmer wrote in a Sept. 28 order. “Even assuming each EPSO defendant was aware of the seriousness of the infection, there are no allegations that they responded unreasonably.”

Multiple claims still remain in Plutt’s lawsuit, including allegations of negligence and disability discrimination.

Plutt described a sequence of events, starting roughly halfway into his jail sentence, that resulted in his hospitalization in “just the nick of time.” On Dec. 22, 2019, red bumps appeared near the amputation site on his leg, the product of a spider bite. Concerned about infection, he asked three sheriff’s deputies and other jail staff for medical help, but they declined, he alleged. 

As the pustules grew, Plutt finally received transportation to the medical area of the jail on Christmas day, but, after a four-hour wait, he opted to return to his cell. 

“By the time he was finally taken to medical on December 27, 2019, one of the pustules had swelled to the size of a golf ball – a solid white center surrounded by red inflammation – and others were growing, as well,” his lawsuit reads. “Even Mr. Plutt, with no medical training, knew the leg was infected and was deeply concerned that he had a staph infection.”

It was not until Dec. 29 that a registered nurse ordered antibiotics for Plutt. Although he continued to be in severe pain, the abscesses subsided. Around Jan. 23, 2020, however, the infection returned. Deputies in the jail provided him a wheelchair because he could not walk, but allegedly obtained no further care beyond “topical spray and a band-aid.”

On Jan. 28, Plutt’s attorney filed an emergency motion in El Paso County District Court, asking he be allowed to go to the hospital. The motion observed the infected area was “the size of a silver dollar, is hot and has a black center.” The following day, Plutt’s father was permitted to pick him up and drive him to the emergency room. Testing confirmed Plutt had MRSA, which can cause pneumonia or bloodstream infections.

Plutt filed a lawsuit against El Paso County, Sheriff Bill Elder, multiple jail staff and private companies Armor Correctional Health Services, Inc. and Wellpath. The county contracted with Armor through the end of 2019 to provide healthcare to jail detainees, after which Wellpath took over operations.

Both companies carry a history of negative allegations – and even criminal charges – revolving around their substandard level of care. Plutt claimed the companies’ contracts with El Paso County were structured to provide a “strong financial incentive” not to send detainees out of the jail for their illnesses.

Of Plutt’s six allegations of liability, the majority involved the county. He claimed the sheriff’s office had violated his Eighth Amendment rights because personnel were deliberately indifferent to his serious medical needs, and that the county was similarly responsible for unconstitutional policies of contractors Armor and Wellpath. Plutt also believed the county had violated his rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act and its precursor, the Rehabilitation Act, by failing to accommodate his mobility disability in the jail.

Plutt argued his condition became so serious during his stay at the jail, even a person without medical training would have recognized a problem. Therefore, jail staff could be held liable for deliberate indifference.

The county responded that its deputies were entitled to qualified immunity, which shields government employees from civil liability unless they violate a person’s clearly-established legal rights.

Not every jail employee, the county’s attorney wrote, “would have understood that failing to immediately take an inmate to medical under the circumstances of this case (where an infection originally presented as a ‘rash’ or ‘spider bite’ that was treated with antibiotics causing it to ‘go away’ but later return, all while the inmate was repeatedly being seen by medical personnel or refusing medical treatment) would constitute a violation.”

Brimmer agreed Plutt’s medical problems were objectively serious. But because Plutt’s life-threatening injuries occurred at the end of January, Plutt needed to show prison employees at that time knew of the risk to his health, but disregarded it.

The judge concluded none of the defendant deputies fit that description.

Brimmer wrote that, while Plutt claimed jail staff “saw his condition and deterioration between January 27 and 28 … the complaint does not state that plaintiff pleaded with them for medical care.

“There is no indication that any EPSO defendant denied or delayed medical care by the time plaintiff’s infection was life-threatening,” continued Brimmer.

Because Armor was no longer the service provider in January, Brimmer also found Plutt’s claims could not proceed against the company. As for Wellpath, he could not find plausible assertions that its cost-saving policy or alleged unconstitutional practices affected Plutt’s care. Therefore, the county could not be held liable in that manner, either.

Brimmer did allow Plutt’s claims of disability discrimination to proceed, as El Paso County provided only a minimal challenge to those allegations. 

Wellpath is named as a defendant in approximately one dozen other federal lawsuits filed this year alone in Colorado.

The case is Plutt v. Armor Correctional Health Services et al.