Family of woman who died in Portland jail plans investigation

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – A lawyer for the family of a woman who died at the Multnomah County Detention Center has raised questions about how the jail handles inmates going through drug withdrawal and highlighted what he claims are omissions from the official investigation.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports attorney John Devlin said in a statement that Dee Eileen Glassmann never saw a doctor and received little medical attention during the time she spent in custody before her death last summer.

Devlin says that was despite the mother of three being deemed at risk for seizures and dehydration by a nurse at the jail. Glassmann also told the nurse that she wasn’t experiencing normal withdrawal symptoms from her drug and alcohol dependency, he said.

The Multnomah County Medical Examiner’s Office says she died from toxic effects of methamphetamine.

The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office on Friday declined to comment.

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Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com