Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women

Trial over Holyoke woman's death in Ludlow jail begins in U.S. District Court
Monday, May 07, 2012, 9:50 PM
Jack Flynn, The Republican

SPRINGFIELD — Former prisoners, medical personnel and top administrators at the Hampden County Correctional Center are expected to testify this week during a trial in a lawsuit filed by the husband of a Holyoke woman who died while withdrawing from alcohol and drugs in 2005.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court, asserts that negligence by jail staffers caused the death of Cynthia Brace, 41, on Aug. 20, 2005, one day after she was sent to the Ludlow facility after her arrest on drug charges.

Brace’s husband, Cecil, claims his wife’s death was unnecessary, the result of poor care by jail staffers who placed her in an isolation unit and forced her to withdraw from alcohol and drugs.

Defense lawyers maintain that Brace died of natural causes and deny that jail employees contributed to it.

Judge Michael A. Ponsor is presiding over the trial; following opening arguments, jurors were taken by bus to view the Ludlow jail Monday afternoon.

Testimony resumes Tuesday at 9 a.m.

Brace was arrested on Aug. 18, 2005, by Holyoke police and held overnight for arraignment the next day in Holyoke District Court. She arrived at the jail around 5:30 p.m. that afternoon, and was pronounced dead at 12:32 p.m. the next day.

Brace, her husband and two sons had been living with an elderly man in his Memorial Avenue home, but left after the man filed a trespass complaint. Police seized syringes, tourniquets and crack pipes, along with stolen evidence, after searching the home.

They said the Brace family had effectively taken over the elderly man’s home, borrowing large amounts of money and convincing him to move into the basement.

The allegations attracted media coverage, as did Cynthia Brace’s arrest on Aug. 18. Two days later, Brace was pronounced dead after being taken to Baystate Medical Center by ambulance.

Ponsor told jurors the trial is expected to last less than two weeks.

Copy of the suit can be read here (opens as a pdf): http://pacer.mad.uscourts.gov/dc/cgi-bin/recentops.pl?filename=ponsor/pd...

Thanks to Lois at The Real Cost of Prisons Project for bringing this to my attention.