Frederick Bardell
Frederick Bardell was held at the Federal Correctional Institution in Seagoville, Texas, where he developed colon cancer. The Justice Department's Inspector General said understaffing caused months of delays in scheduling his colonoscopy, and that staff misrepresented his care to a federal judge. After a court ordered his release, the Bureau of Prisons let him go without an approved release plan, and he was left at an airport curb; his parents had bought him a plane ticket home to Florida, and his father was there when he arrived. He died in a hospital nine days later, and his former attorney, Kimberly Copeland, said the government's failure to recognize his deteriorating health turned his imprisonment into a de facto death sentence.
Cause of death, as reported: Died of illness (neglect alleged). The Justice Department Inspector General found that understaffing delayed his colonoscopy for months and that staff misrepresented his care to a federal judge, and a special master appointed in the case reached largely the same findings.
Reported by: Office of the Inspector General for the Justice Department (outside investigators); special master appointed in the case.