‘Forgotten’ inmate granted $22m over incarceration

Stephen Slevin from New Mexico was arrested in August 2005 for drink driving then thrown in jail and completely forgotten about for two years.

He never even got to see a judge and was never prosecuted.

This week, a federal jury has awarded $22 million (€16.7m) to Slevin, who was kept in solitary confinement and forced to pull out his own tooth.

The award is thought to be one of the largest federal civil rights settlements involving an inmate.

Civil rights attorney Matt Coyte said the jury awarded Slevin, 58, the damages after a six-day trial in Santa Fe.

Jess Williams, a spokesman for Dona Ana County, declined to comment, other than to say the county plans to appeal.

“We believe we have strong legal issues to raise with the appeal,” he said.

Slevin’s lawsuit alleged he became malnourished, lost significant weight, developed bedsores, fungus and dental problems and was not aware of his situation or surroundings.

Slevin said he made countless requests to see a doctor and get medication for his depression, but was denied until a few weeks before he was released.

He also said during the two years, he was forced to pull his own tooth because they would not let him see a dentist.

Slevin was arrested while driving through the southern New Mexico county in August 2005. He ended up in solitary confinement because he was suffering from depression and someone checked a box on a form indicating he was suicidal, Coyte said.

Slevin was given some drugs for depression but never saw a mental health professional, Coyte said.

He said his client wrote letters for months seeking help, but they were ignored. “By January 2006, his last letter goes out looking for help. Then he falls into this delirium. He was there for the next 20 months.”

Coyte said that in May 2007, Slevin was sent to a mental health facility in Las Vegas for two weeks, but then was returned to the Dona Ana County jail and solitary confinement.

“He immediately decompensates,” Coyte said. “He sends off another letter at this point asking for medical care . . . He is forced to pull his own tooth. He rocked it back and forth over eight hours before he was able to pull it out of his mouth.”

Slevin was released in June 2007, Coyte said. He was never convicted.

“He entered this facility with overt symptoms of mental depression, but that’s not the issue. . . . He was stuck in a 6-foot-by-11-foot cell with a concrete bench for a bed. And he sat in that cell. We had documentary evidence he didn’t get out for anything — for recreation, a shower — for months at a time.”

Slevin’s legal team said the county in recent days had offered to settle the case for $2m, just before the jury went to consider a verdict and award.