An extensive review of documents involving the conduct of Wellpath, El Paso County’s former jail health care provider, and jail staff revealed serious allegations of negligence resulting in death or serious injury in the jail over more than a decade during two different Wellpath contracts.

There are nearly 20 unresolved lawsuits in the state of Colorado, including at least eight originating from El Paso County, that claim jail and Wellpath staff did not take inmates’ mental health seriously, leading to suicide attempts, that staff rushed medical screenings, and that deputies ignored inmates as they died among other allegations of neglect.

Wellpath did not respond to multiple requests for comment. In a statement, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office noted that the jail had changed health care providers in January 2024, and that Sheriff Joe Roybal had made numerous improvements since taking office to enhance safety and well-being among inmates.

Speaking of Wellpath, Andrew McNulty, a Denver-based attorney who represented the family of a young woman who committed suicide in the El Paso County jail in 2022, said, “the way that these (for profit jail health care) companies operate is that they try to get as much money as possible and provide the least amount of care as possible. 

“It’s a whole system that’s just designed to extract the most value and cause the most human suffering as possible.”

McNulty represented the family of Dezaree Archuleta, an 18-year-old who died by suicide in the jail. Archuleta’s death is perhaps the most prominent local case, prompting  outcries at El Paso Board of County Commissioners meetings. While El Paso County settled her case with a $1 million payment, her family’s case against Wellpath has been thrown into uncertainty, along with about 1,500 other cases nationally, because of the company’s bankruptcy.

On June 9, 2022, just hours after meeting with jail medical staff, Archuletta hanged herself in her cell. According to a lawsuit filed by Archuleta’s family, Wellpath medical and mental health staff ignored numerous complaints from Archuletta that she intended to commit suicide and numerous instances of self-harm during her 23-day stay in the jail.

The complaint alleges that Archuleta made upward of 16 statements of self-harm while in jail, and at one point was found in her cell naked “with approximately 30 deep, fresh, and dark red 2-inch cuts running down her right thigh and inner left thigh.” Despite the clear signs of suicidal ideation, Archuleta was taken off suicide watch by staff members at the jail several times — and was not put back on suicide watch at a meeting with Wellpath staff less than two hours before her suicide, where Archuleta again expressed her desire to self-harm.

“The vast majority of the problems related to her care were Wellpath’s,” McNulty said.

Jamin Robertson death

According to El Paso County internal affairs records into the actions of former El Paso County Sheriff’s Sgt. Christopher Bonk, Jamin Robertson was found dead in his jail cell hours after returning from the hospital.

The internal affairs report for Bonk details how Robertson smeared his own blood and feces in his jail cell hours before his death, but jail staff ignored his symptoms, despite his having just returned from the hospital.

Hours after Robertson was first reported to have begun bleeding and defecating himself, he was found dead in his jail cell. According to Bonk’s internal affairs investigation, there were several checks done hastily by jail staff at 15-minute intervals, or just skipped entirely, during the hours when Robertson was dying in his cell.

Robertson died of internal bleeding due to a gastrointestinal hemorrhage. 

At the time of this report, there’s no lawsuit filed against Wellpath or the county in Robertson’s death, but Bonk resigned from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office before being terminated, according to the Colorado Peace Officer and Standards database. 

Maxwell Kirwan

A lawsuit filed in El Paso County District Court alleges that Maxwell Kirwan’s status as a suicide risk was revoked days before he attempted suicide.

The lawsuit alleges that Kirwan should have never been removed as a suicide risk because he had attempted suicide in the jail in 2014 and had a long documented history of suffering hallucinations due to schizophrenia. When Kirwan went through the intake process, a week before the attempt, he was labeled as a suicide risk, but the designation was later removed for “unknown reasons.”

Two days before Kirwan attempted suicide for the second time in the El Paso County jail he got in an altercation with another inmate, in which the lawsuit claims he “told CJC staff earnestly: ‘I am basically Jesus reborn.’”

The lawsuit states that this was a clear sign of Kirwan’s mental health deteriorating, and he should have immediately been removed from the general jail population.

On Feb. 10, 2021, Kirwan was found by deputies “in a pool of his own blood, suffered significant physical injuries, including, but not limited to permanent brain damage, brain bleeding, permanent hearing loss, skull and neck fractures, and a broken arm.”

Kirwan settled with Wellpath in 2023 for a confidential amount. 

“The way that these (for-profit jail health care) companies operate is that they try to get as much money as possible and provide the least amount of care as possible.”

Savannah Poppell 

A lawsuit filed against Wellpath by the family of Savannah Poppell alleges the 24-year-old woman died a “gruesome, painful, and entirely preventable death” after being incarcerated at the El Paso County jail.

The lawsuit alleges that Poppell died in her jail cell on Dec. 11, 2022, four days after being arrested, due to symptoms of substance withdrawal. The lawsuit states that Poppell “desperately” needed medical care as she went through withdrawal — and that jail medical staff were aware she was going through withdrawal during intake — but her medical needs were ignored, leading to her death.

“In essence, she vomited so violently and for such a long period that she tore her esophagus, causing her to bleed to death in her cell,” the introduction to Poppell’s lawsuit states.

El Paso County settled with Poppell’s family for $1.5 million in October. Wellpath has yet to pay any amount in settlement and the case has been put on hold due to Wellpath’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.

Alexandro Duran 

Alexandro Duran is a 31-year-old man who is paralyzed from the waist down, and in November 2021 he was arrested and placed in the El Paso County jail. He was released less than four months later on a medical furlough because of how poorly his condition was handled there.

The lawsuit alleges that Duran needs a padded seat for his wheelchair and a thick mattress to avoid pressure sores on his body. These needs were ignored by jail medical staff, leading to the development of multiple pressure points on Duran’s body that later became infected.

According to the lawsuit, the infections on Duran’s body became so severe he was housed in the jail’s medical unit in isolation for weeks, where his condition worsened.

By the time Duran was medically furloughed, he had developed “multiple, very deep, Stage 4 pressure sores reaching into his muscles and bones.” The lawsuit, which was filed in 2023, states that Duran has been in and out of the hospital ever since his release from jail.

This case has been stayed in its entirety until the resolution of Wellpath’s Chapter 11 reorganization.

Daniel Murray

On July 4, 2022, Daniel Murray died in jail from untreated alcohol withdrawal, according to a lawsuit filed against Wellpath by his family in 2023. The lawsuit alleges that days after Murray was arrested, he began to suffer hallucinations and claimed to have seizures, but Murray was ignored and died.

The lawsuit notes that the El Paso County jail should have been aware of Murray’s condition, as records from his intake process showed he entered the jail with clear symptoms of alcohol withdrawal, such as tremors and sweating.

Despite the signs, the lawsuit alleges Wellpath staff neglected to follow up with Murray to make sure the medication he was prescribed was working, and ignored him when his symptoms worsened and he began to hallucinate despite the medication.

The Murray family settled with El Paso County last year for just over $1.8 million. Wellpath has yet to pay any amount in settlement and the case has been put on hold due to Wellpath’s Chapter 11 reorganization.

Marcus Ryines

Marcus Ryines was jailed on June 16, 2021, and immediately upon admission began to express severe mental health issues, including hallucinations and suicidal thoughts.

According to a lawsuit filed by Ryines, despite having a documented history of mental health problems, and even being found incompetent to proceed in his criminal case, his symptoms were described as “medicine seeking” and ignored.

The disregard of Ryines’ symptoms allegedly led to a suicide attempt after nine months in custody and after he made more than 60 complaints regarding his mental health.

After his suicide attempt, Ryines’ lawsuit alleges that he was not taken to the hospital, but rather left handcuffed to the floor of his jail cell, naked, for more than two hours.

“There’s so much mental suffering that he endured, in addition to physical suffering. That was incredibly traumatic,” said Helen Oh, Ryines’ attorney.

This case has been stayed until resolution of Wellpath’s Chapter 11 reorganization.

Stuart McLaney

In 2023, Stuart McLaney was arrested and spent over four months in the El Paso County jail.

McLaney, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2021, alleges in a lawsuit filed earlier this year that during his four-month stay in the jail he was denied his TKI chemotherapy pill, despite informing jail medical staff numerous times that he needed it.

The lawsuit alleges the inability to get his medication caused McLaney great physical pain and a significant relapse in his cancer.

McLaney alleges in the lawsuit that at one point a sheriff’s deputy acknowledged to him that he should receive his medicine but wasn’t because “there was an insurance problem.”

This case has been stayed until resolution of Wellpath’s Chapter 11 reorganization.