Female inmate dies during transport; private contracted company being investigated [View all]
At age 54, Denise Isaacs suffered from a slew of ailments, including bipolar disorder, anxiety and chronic abdominal pain.
Yet Isaacs, who was wanted in Southwest Florida on a probation violation for shoplifting, was crammed into a stuffy transport van with 10 other shackled inmates for a nearly 1,000-mile trip from Kentucky to Punta Gorda.
“I knew she wouldn’t be be able to make a trip like that because of her weakness and pain,” said her daughter, Kallie Isaacs, of Lexington, Kentucky.
But her family never believed that the rigors of the journey might kill her. Isaacs earlier this month was found slumped over dead inside the van — operated by Tennessee-based Prisoner Transportation Services of America through a contract with the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office — during a stop at a West Miami-Dade Taco Bell restaurant.
Her case offers a window into the little-publicized world of private inmate-transport companies. And it has now spurred a law enforcement investigation into whether the transport officers provided her with proper care and attention during the grueling two-day road trip.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article2287990.html
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