Parties settle federal civil suit over alleged abuse in Mississippi County Jail

A federal civil suit filed by a former Mississippi County Jail inmate, who alleged abuse caused the death of her baby, has been settled and the case dismissed.

Federal Judge Audrey Fleissig issued the dismissal order Thursday. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

The former inmate, Tara Rhodes, filed suit in 2016, claiming she was mistreated while pregnant and in custody in the Mississippi County Detention Center in 2014.

Named as defendants in the suit filed in federal court in Cape Girardeau were Mississippi County and seven jail employees, including then-jail administrator Cory Hutcheson, who now faces other state and federal charges stemming from his tenure as sheriff.

Tony Rothert, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, represented Rhodes in the suit, which sought �compensatory and punitive damages.� It also demanded the court implement adequate training programs for its jailers.

Rothert said in 2016 that Rhodes pleaded for five days for medical attention after she began leaking abdominal fluids, cramping and passing blood clots, but no one would listen.

She also was shackled by the waist, wrists and ankles and dragged from one room to another, the lawsuit alleged.

She subsequently was transported to a hospital hundreds of miles away. She first was taken to a correctional center in Vandalia, Missouri, and then to a hospital in Mexico, Missouri, according to the lawsuit.

Rhodes gave birth to a stillborn baby.

According to a court document filed by Rothert, the defendants admitted Rhodes had a high-risk pregnancy and they were aware of the woman�s medical condition.

Rothert said when the case was filed �there�s no shortage of complaints about lack of medical care in prisons ... and this is one of those cases.�

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

Mississippi County Jail, Charleston, Mo.