BAXTER VINSON
Baxter Vinson has been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. On March 8, 2008, Vinson was being held in the Behavior Modification Unit at Broad River Correctional Institution. At approximately 11:00 p.m., correctional officers discovered he had cut both his arms and his abdomen. At approximately 12:23 a.m., Vinson was strapped down in a restraint chair in the solitary confinement unit where a nurse, over Vinson's strenuous objections, attempted to press his protruding intestines back into his abdominal wall. At 2:23 a.m., two hours after being placed in the restraint chair and over three hours after his wounds were discovered, Vinson was removed from the restraint chair and transported by van to a hospital. Video footage of this incident is available on the website, including the complete SCDC videotape and a shorter version edited by the plaintiffs' lawyers.
JEROD COOK
Jerod Cook has been diagnosed with Major Depression with Psychotic Features. On September 1, 2009, Cook was being held in solitary confinement at Perry Correctional Institution. At 9:35 p.m. a correctional officer discovered that Cook had cut himself on his right arm. During the next 90 minutes, Cook lost a substantial amount of blood from the wounds on his arm. At some point during this period, Cook collapsed face down on the floor of his cell in a pool of his own blood. At approximately 11:00 p.m., Cook, who appeared to be barely conscious, was lifted off the floor by SCDC officers and placed on a stretcher. He was then carried to a solitary confinement cell, where he was strapped down and locked in a restraint chair with blood dripping from his arm, forming a pool on the floor. Pursuant to SCDC practice, Cook remained in the restraint chair for four hours, until shortly after 4:00 am, when he was removed, stripped naked, and placed in a crisis intervention cell. SCDC records noted that during the period he was in the restraint chair, "no medical staff is on duty." Video footage of this incident is available on this website, including the complete SCDC videotape as well as a shorter version edited by the plaintiffs' lawyers.