The American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, of Alaska is suing the Alaska Department of Corrections for its role in the 2023 death of Lewis Jordan Jr., on behalf of his family. Jordan was incarcerated at Goose Creek Correctional Complex in Wasilla, where he developed bacterial meningitis which ultimately led to his coma and death in 2023.
Meghan Barker, communications director for the ACLU of Alaska, said Jordan’s health decline started with an ear infection and staff ignored his pleas for help.
“These were medical issues that could have been fixed with pretty easily-identifiable solutions and treatments, and instead, they were ignored to the point that Mr. Jordan was found unconscious in his cell and taken to the hospital in a coma, where he then died,” Barker said.
Jordan remained in a coma for about a month before he was removed from life support.
The Department of Corrections did not respond to a request for comment for this story, but the department’s health director, Travis Welch, presented data on prison deaths to the House state affairs committee last week. Welch said the incarcerated population in Alaska has especially complex health needs.
“65% of those in our care and custody are living with a mental illness. Of that, 22% of our population is experiencing a severe and persistent mental illness, such as schizophrenia or other, 80% are living with a substance use disorder,” Welch said. “People in our care and custody are twice as likely as the greater Alaskan population to have high blood pressure.”
DOC leaders said deaths by suicide inside prisons have decreased by almost a third over the past decade, and that while overdose death rates rose in Alaska in 2023, few incarcerated Alaskans died of overdose during that time.
But, Barker said Jordan’s death is a sign that the department still doesn’t have high enough standards of care. She said she hopes the state legislature will take a deeper look at deaths of incarcerated Alaskans.
“The Department of Corrections receives an incredible portion of the state's budget and has not been held accountable for the fact that it is failing to keep people safe and alive while they are in the Department of Corrections custody,” Barker said.
The Department of Correction announced that another inmate, Reginald Eugene Childers Junior, died in state custody March 3. Childers was 42, had been incarcerated for about two months, and was awaiting trial. State troopers determined the death was a suicide and no foul play is suspected.
Anyone struggling with thoughts of suicide can call the Alaska suicide and crisis line at 988.
