Sylvia H. Rambo United States Courthouse in Harrisburg
HARRISBURG, Pa. – An advocate for the rights of disabled people has undertaken a new cause in Pennsylvania – suing over the treatment of a diabetic prisoner who committed suicide.
Disability Rights Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit last week against Laurel Harry, the secretary of the Department of Corrections, in Harrisburg federal court. It is investigating the death of a Ryan James Paige, a convicted murderer with type 1 diabetes.
Paige was incarcerated at SCI-Benner and earlier this year took his own life. However, DRP believes Paige’s suicide could have been the result of neglect and has asked the DOC for records, to which the DOC has provided “some limited medical records.”
DRP is suing for access to video footage in and around Paige’s cell in the three hours before he was found unresponsive and afterward. It seeks medical records and any grievances Paige filed while in jail.
Those requests are “outside the scope of these acts,” the DOC responded in February to demands made by DRP under a group of laws including the Protection and Advocacy of Individual Rights Act. DRP is the designated group to ask these questions under the P&A system.
The DOC said DRP’s letter doesn’t adequately explain “how you are entitled to Department records or videos.”
Having heard nothing else from the DOC since March 2, DRP filed suit 11 days later.
Paige was found unresponsive in is cell in January while serving a sentence for third-degree murder of his father.
