A Westbrook man is suing the company that provides medical services to Cumberland County Jail for interrupting his medical treatment while incarcerated.
Charlie Wynott, of Mentor Street, filed the suit Friday against Correction Medical Services Inc., with the U.S. District Court in Portland. Wynott, who has been arrested twice in the past three months for operating after suspension, is HIV-positive. He claims both times he was in jail, he was denied access to his medication, which “could render his life-threatening infection intractable,” according to the suit.
Wynott, 44, is currently prescribed to two medications to fight HIV. He said when he was arrested in November, one of the medications was offered to him two days after he was incarcerated, but the medications only work together. He was never offered the second during that stint in jail. Wynott said his license was originally suspended for writing a bad check.
When he was arrested again in January, Wynott said, he wasn’t offered the medication for four or five days after being incarcerated.
According to Wynott, not taking the medications for extended periods of time has made him resistant to them, rendering the medications ineffective.
“It may have limited my life span,” Wynott, who contracted HIV from intravenous drug use 20 years ago, said Tuesday. “I don’t know how much time I have left.”
Though Correctional Medical Services would not provide information about Wynott’s treatment, spokesman Ken Fields said, “We can tell you that health care professionals working at the Cumberland County Jail are fully committed to providing quality health care services,” which the company has done for six years.
Wynott is not taking any legal action against the jail itself, but Cumberland County Sheriff Mark Dion said he has a responsibility to make sure the services provided at the jail are up to par and is conducting his own audit.
“I’m trying to assess the timeline in terms of the care Mr. Wynott received,” Dion said Tuesday.
In addition to figuring out whether there was a delay in Wynott receiving his medication, Dion said, he would be looking into the effect such a delay could have on Wynott’s health.
Wynott, who is represented by the Portland law firm Hardy, Wolf & Downing, said his main objective in suing Correctional Medical Services is “for them to change their policy in the jail – for inmates to get the medication they need in a timely manner.”
However, Wynott, who receives Social Security, said if he gets any money, he’ll lose his government assistance – like housing and health care.
“It’s going to be something that’s going to have to sustain me for the rest of my life,” he said about a possible settlement.
“I think I can still be here for 10 years and maybe 20 years,” he said.
Suit claims meds withheld in jail
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