Family of dead inmate sues county

The family of a man who committed suicide while incarcerated at the Tehama County Jail has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the county in federal district court.

William Joseph Costa, 30, of Red Bluff, was being held in the jail accused of rape when he was found hanging from a bed sheet on Dec. 15, 2010.

He was pronounced dead a short time later at St. Elizabeth Community Hospital.

Costa's family claims he was denied "certain constitutional rights" while incarcerated, and jail staff was "indifferent" to his medical needs directly leading to his death.

Tehama County Assistant Counsel Arthur Wylene said on Tuesday the county has not yet been served with the lawsuit, filed on Dec. 21 with the U.S. District Court in Sacramento.

"That is probably due to the holidays," he said.

Plaintiffs in the case include Costa's mother, Barbara Ann Costa, and his two underage children, Emily Rose Costa and William Joseph Costa, Jr., according to court documents.

Wylene said he is familiar with the Costa case as Barbara Costa submitted an "unlimited civil case" claim to the Tehama County Board of Supervisors seeking damages in her son's death. The claim was unanimously rejected by board on June 21.

At the time of Costa's death, Clay Parker, who was then sheriff, said the inmate had been "housed in a single cell and had not shown any type of distress" during the 2:03 p.m. security check prior to his death.

About one hour later, correctional officers at the jail were alerted by an inmate that Costa was hanging from a sheet tied to the bars of his cell, reported Parker, and that officers immediately took Costa down and placed him on the floor and began resuscitative efforts, with assistance from jail medical staff.

The lawsuit accuses jail staff and St. Elizabeth Hospital personnel working at the jail of giving Costa inadequate initial medical screening, as the inmate "had experienced numerous difficulties in life, as well as mental problems," and had "no support system in his life."

According to court documents, Barbara Costa claims she called jail staff and told them of her son's erratic behavior.

Capt. Danny Rabalais, who is responsible for the county jail, said each time a person is booked into the jail, they are required to fill out a medical questionnaire, which is very encompassing and thorough.

"The questionnaire asks about the person's physical, mental and emotional health. If a question is answered in a particular way, another step is taking in which we contact medical personnel to further evaluate the inmate," Rabalais said. "We otherwise cannot know at the time of booking whether the person has a medical condition unless we have a history with them at our facility."

Although Parker was the sheriff at the time of the incident, he isn't named in the lawsuit. Current Sheriff Dave Hencratt is. Such is the case for others named in the lawsuit, such as Rabalais, current jail supervisor, when retired Capt. Ron Dodd was the jail supervisor at the time of Costa's death.

Wylene said naming people in a lawsuit who weren't involved in a case is generally unusual.

In all, the lawsuit cites several defendants, from both the Sheriff's Department and St. Elizabeth Hospital, 11 by specific name or title, and the remainder as "unknown to plaintiffs."

There appears to be some timeline discrepancies in the lawsuit, such as referring to Costa's arrest and incarceration.

"All events occurred in the County of Tehama, City of Red Bluff between April 10, 2010 and April 15, 2010."

Actually, Costa was arrested on Dec. 10, 2010, by Red Bluff police, who had responded to a disturbance call at 1245 Montgomery Road.

Police Lt. Kyle Sanders said at the time of the arrest, when officers arrived on scene, an adult woman reported domestic abuse and sexual assault at the hand of Costa.

At the time of his death, on Dec. 15, 2010, Costa was serving a three years ona probation sentence after pleading guilty in February 2010, to resisting, obstructing, delaying of police or EMT.