Philadelphia jail withheld insulin from a diabetic inmate who died, lawsuit says

A Philadelphia jail caused the death of a diabetic inmate by failing to provide insulin and other medical care, according to a federal lawsuit filed by the man’s family Wednesday.

Louis Jung Jr., 50, was a pretrial detainee at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility when he died on Nov. 6, 2023, of ketoacidosis, a serious complication of diabetes.

The Philadelphia Department of Prisons did not administer insulin to Jung, who had Type 1 diabetes, for the last six days of his life, according to the suit. Prison medical officials also failed to provide glucose monitoring, call for emergency care, send Jung to the hospital or place him in the infirmary, the suit said.

The plaintiffs are suing the City of Philadelphia and YesCare, a prison health care company, both of which declined comment. Medical officials at the facility and unnamed corrections officers are also listed as defendants.

“My father had diabetes and simply needed insulin. I cannot wrap my head around how inhumanely they treated him. How they allowed him to lie there and suffer and die,” said one of his sons, James Jung, in a statement released by the Abolitionist Law Center.

The center filed the lawsuit on behalf of Jung and his brother. It said that since 2014 at least two other inmates died of ketoacidosis while in the Department of Prisons’ custody.