A Bureau of Prisons lieutenant promised to help a man experiencing an emergency in his cell by calling for medical help, then ignored the issue instead, federal prosecutors said. Now, he’s facing up to life in prison.
The plea to help the 47-year-old inmate, identified only as W.W., came from another correctional officer at Federal Correctional Institution at Petersburg in Virginia on Jan. 9, 2021, according to prosecutors.
The call for help led Michael Anderson, 52, to visit the man’s cell, where his concerned cellmate said W.W. “was not doing well and was not himself,” court documents show. In response, Anderson ensured the cellmate he’d get W.W. medical attention, according to the court documents.
Despite that promise, Anderson never alerted a medical staff member about W.W. — although he knew the severity of the situation and that he was obligated to take action under bureau policy as a higher-ranking officer, according to prosecutors.
A day later, a correctional officer informed Anderson that W.W. fell down, prosecutors said.
Again, Anderson didn’t get him medical help after the fall, and W.W. died on the floor of his cell Jan. 10, 2021, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. W.W. was on the ground for nearly two hours before he was discovered, and life-saving efforts were unsuccessful, prosecutors said.
Anderson pleaded guilty July 12 to violating W.W.’s civil rights by showing deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs, resulting in his death, the attorney’s office announced in a July 13 news release.
McClatchy News contacted an attorney representing Anderson for comment July 14 and was awaiting a response.
“Anderson’s appalling indifference and disregard for his responsibility to provide a humane environment for inmates resulted in the needless loss of life,” Special Agent in Charge Russell W. Cunningham of the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General Washington Field Office said in the news release. “Incarcerated individuals should never be denied medical care.”
Anderson’s guilty plea comes over a month after another FCI Petersburg lieutenant, Shronda Covington, and nurse, Tonya Farley, were charged with ignoring the serious medical needs of an inmate, also identified as “W.W.,” who died under their supervision, McClatchy News previously reported.
McClatchy News contacted the attorney’s office July 14 asking if that is related to Anderson’s case and if it involves the same inmate. Both cases were filed separately in the Eastern District of Virginia.
The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment against inmates.
This includes inadequate medical care and denying such care to inmates, a 1973 University of Notre Dame article abstract accessible on the Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs website explains.
After W.W.’s death, Anderson lied about the circumstances surrounding it in a written, official memorandum he was required to write as part of bureau policy, according to a statement of facts filed in court.
During an interview with a federal investigator, Anderson lied again, saying “his report was accurate,” the statement of facts says.
His sentencing hearing is set for Nov. 28, according to the attorney’s office.