D’Vonte Valentine, a 24-year-old developmentally disabled man, was arrested by the Tyler Police Department and taken to the Smith County jail. Valentine, who had congenital adrenal hyperplasia and required specific steroid medications to survive, was unable to communicate his medical needs effectively to jail staff and the healthcare provider, Turn Key Health Clinics, LLC ("Turn Key Health").
Despite Valentine’s family delivering the necessary medications to the jail, the Smith County jail and Turn Key Health failed to ensure that these medications were administered. The medications were instead stored with Valentine’s personal belongings and no orders were placed for his essential treatments. As a result, Valentine suffered and died due to the lack of medication.
The Smith County jail has faced repeated non-compliance issues with the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. An external consultant's recent analysis highlighted serious operational problems within the facility.
Dean Malone, a constitutional rights lawyer representing Valentine’s mother, has filed a federal lawsuit in Tyler. Malone stated, “Far too many young people are dying across our state due to systemic problems in our county jails. D’Vonte was only 24 years old and relied on jailers and medical personnel at the Smith County jail to keep him alive. There is absolutely no excuse for not providing life-saving medications to D’Vonte when his family brought the medications to the jail. Smith County has known for years that its jail has significant problems, and yet those problems continued through the end of D’Vonte’s life. Something needs to be done.”
