Dexter Barry was arrested last November following an argument with a neighbor. Five days later, he died, after the prison authorities refused to give him the right medicine to put his heart into operation.
According to to The Tributary, a story from Jacksonville, Florida, Barry was arrested on November 18, after a neighbor reported him to the police for threatening to “beat him up” following a long argument over Wi-Fi. Although the two never fought, Barry was arrested on a simple charge.
During his time in police custody, Barry – who had a heart transplant in October 2020 – often insisted that he had to take real medicine every day to prevent his body from rejecting his new heart. According to dashcam footage of the incident, Barry told an officer seven times that he needed the drug to survive.
When Barry appeared in court the morning after his arrest, court records show, he again requested access to his anti-rejection medication.
“I’m on medication,” Barry told Judge Gilbert Feltel. “I just had a heart attack, and I haven’t taken my medicine all day since I was locked up, and I take medicine to prevent my heart from rejecting me, and I’m almost two years away from sleeping. … And the medicine I’m taking, it’s like a 30-day medicine that’s like $2,400.”
“Well. That’s what I’m going to do, Mr. Dexter,” Feltel replied. “I will establish a bond between you and 503 and add that you will not engage in violence.” While Barry was released on November 20, his son and the family’s attorney say Barry never received medication while in prison. When he was released, he missed about five levels.
Despite resuming medication, Barry’s health deteriorated over the next few days, and he died on November 23, three days after being discharged. A pathologist hired by Barry’s family said that what killed him was his body’s rejection of a heart transplant.
Andrew Bonderud, the family’s lawyer, thinks prison officials didn’t get Barry’s drugs because of the cost. “Jail records may show that he wrote it,” Bonderud said The Tributary. “[The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO)] they realized that it was a very expensive and disgusting drug if it was known that this was a business decision for the JSO, that they would not pay for the drug. They would rather die because of a business decision. It’s one of the worst cases I’ve seen in this city of JSO misdirection. “
Although the doctor refused to attribute Barry’s death to the prison authorities’ refusal to give him the proper medication, it is clear that the JSO authorities were indifferent to Barry’s health – and worse, they helped prevent his death.
“A police officer could have gone in and taken the drugs,” Barry’s son said The Tributary. “This man is telling you, my heart needs that medicine. A two-minute walk would have saved his life.”