LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A former ICE detainee at the Nevada Southern Detention Center is suing the owner of the correctional facility, CoreCivic, after his lawyers say he experienced “weeks of operational and medical neglect.”
WATCH | Ex-Pahrump detainee sues for malpractice, negligence
The lawsuit, filed in Eighth District Judicial Court in Clark County, alleges that inmate Sedano Navarro immediately informed NSDC staff when he got to the detention center in June that he required his anti-psychotic injection. “He warned that without it he would relapse into hallucinations and lose control,” court documents obtained by Channel 13 show. Despite that, lawyers claim staff failed to provide him with that medication for “weeks.”
Court papers show Navarro “began seeing demons, heard voices,” and “feared he would ‘go crazy on somebody.’” Weeks later on July 20, he was placed in segregation in the facility, which lawyers say was done without documented completion of a mental-health check.
On August 3, he attempted to hang himself with a laundry bag string, and documents say “while on suicide watch, he attempted to dig his eye out and exhibited escalating self-mutilation behavior.”
Court records show Dr. Steven Berger, one of the named defendants in the lawsuit, evaluated Navarro the next day, but did not send him to the hospital and prescribed medication. He scheduled a follow-up appointment for the following month.
The next day on August 5, Navarro gouged out his right eye “while under CoreCivic’s direct supervision, control, and custody.”
Documents show he is permanently blind in his right eye and “lives with disfigurement, chronic psychological trauma, and ongoing psychiatric instability.” Lawyers representing Navarro say the filing details a “timeline of systemic failure.”
Mitchell Bisson, one of the attorneys on the case said,“This isn’t just a failure of care; it is the natural conclusion of a system that views detainees as revenue units.”
Channel 13 reached out to CoreCivic, and a spokesperson responded in a statement, saying in part: “The safety, health and well-being of the individuals entrusted to our care is our top priority. ”They said their facilities, including NSDC “is required to undergo regular review and audit processes to ensure an appropriate standard of living and care for all detainees.”
The spokesperson also shared that medical and mental health staff at NDSC undergo regular inspections and audits. Lawyers for the detainee claim mental health staff were not notified “until after” he gouged his own eye out.
