News
Inmate’s Starvation Death Sparks Lawmakers’ Review
By: Associated Press
Posted on:
A Kentucky lawmaker is pledging to hold hearings on prison medical issues after an inmate at a maximum-security facility starved to death on a hunger strike.
State Rep. Brent Yonts, D-Greenville, said Thursday he will ask during committee hearings later this year for an explanation of the handling of 57-year-old James Kenneth Embry. Yonts also said he would look into prison funding, staffing and the hiring of medical personnel.
An Associated Press story this week revealed Embry's hunger strike and death in January at the Kentucky State Penitentiary. Administrators fired the prison's lead doctor, barred a contract nurse from working there and put two other medical staffers on leave while the state moves to dismiss them.
Authorities also began considering a criminal investigation after the AP asked about Embry's death.