The mother of a woman who died while in the custody of Miami-Dade Corrections and didn't find out about the death until the family showed up to a hearing says she believes there was a two-hour delay in getting her daughter medical attention.
The reality of losing 23-year-old Nairobis Alvarez Cruz brought mother Maria Cruz to tears. Maria and her husband found out their daughter was dead just before 9 a.m. Thursday morning on the courthouse steps from Carmen Arevalo, a woman who was also being held by the corrections department and who called them.
The family was about to enter the arraignment for Cruz who had been charged with robbery. The criminal court said not even Judge Stacy Glick knew that Cruz was dead and it was only when the hearing started did the judge, prosecutor, and Cruz family attorney, Sabino Jauregui, discovered she was no longer alive.
It's the corrections department's job to notify the court. Police were driving to the family's home to let them know while they were headed to court.
Maria Cruz exclusively told NBC 6 Friday that Arevalo indicated Nairobis Cruz was pleading for medical help for two hours but was ignored before any correctional officers arrived.
"My clients are saying that the inmate that contacted them stated that my client had been screaming for help for almost two hours before anyone walked in there," attorney Sabino Jauregui said.
On Thursday, Miami-Dade Corrections released a statement offering condolences to the family but saying they couldn't comment on an on-going investigation.
Local
One source told NBC 6 Cruz was being held on a floor for women with mental health issues and until two months ago, corrections officers were inside the open bay cell with the women but that was changed and the officers are now outside the unit.
The internal jail reports only NBC 6 obtained say that at 2250 (10:50 p.m.), "Officer MG heard a loud noise coming from the East Wing....Cruz...appeared to be having a seizure. Nurse V and S rendered medical assistance."
"Now the reports do prove that there wasn't anybody there, there weren't any guards there," Jauregui said. "They actually had to go through a gate to get to my client to try and render any kind of aid to her. Why did no one contact my clients for eight hours?"
Cruz said her daughter didn't have any serious medical issues and that morning had been to see the medical staff in the jail complaining of chest pains but they sent her back to her cell.
"Allegedly, they even took her to the infirmary where they basically ignored her conditions, send her back to her cell and she ends up dead at the end of the night," Jauregui said.
Staff and paramedics worked on Cruz, giving her CPR and using a defibrillator before she was rushed to a hospital a block away. But it was too late.
