| UNFAIR PARK | ‘Dereliction of Duty’ A former inmate at the Denton County Jail said medical neglect has led to him needing to have his arm amputated. BY SIMONE CARTER G reg Corley claims he’ll soon lose his right arm because of long-term medical neglect at the Denton County Jail. If he doesn’t have it amputated, he’ll likely lose his life. Family and advocates protested in Den- ton on behalf of Corley and others in lockup. “This can’t be what God has planned for me,” he told the Observer during a visitation earlier this month. “This has been very mor- ally draining.” Corley had been in a motorcycle accident in 2019, leaving him with a stent in his arm. When he was arrested by bondsmen in Feb- ruary, he claims, he later asked the Denton County Sheriff’s Office to not have him hand- cuffed behind his back because he feared his stent would collapse. Those pleas went ig- nored and that’s what happened, he said. From there, Corley alleges that it took months before he was brought to have blood flow returned to his arm. By then, the doctor told him that the only option left was ampu- tation. Even still, Corley said, officials wouldn’t let him get the surgery. Corley said he experienced a litany of other health issues due to the alleged medi- cal neglect, such as gangrene and stroke-like symptoms. His fingers had turned purple and his arm was ice-cold to the touch. It’s not like he wants to lose his right arm, but he also doesn’t want to die of a blood clot. “No one should be forced to live this way,” he said. The Denton County Sheriff’s Office didn’t return multiple calls, voicemails and emails requesting comment. After the Observer contacted the sheriff’s office last Monday, Corley was released on personal recognizance bond the following day, records show. He’d been arrested on charges related to drug and firearm posses- sion. Corley was then booked at the Collin County Jail last Tuesday afternoon on sepa- rate charges related to the manufacture or delivery of drugs, unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, theft and unauthorized use of a vehicle. It’s unclear when or whether he’ll receive medical care there. A Collin County Jail representative told 4 the Observer they couldn’t discuss inmates’ health issues, but that they always have medical staff on standby. (Collin County Jail has also faced allegations of medical ne- glect.) Multiple advocates told the Observer that they were stonewalled at nearly every turn during their weeks-long fight for Cor- ley. Kheri Hines, host of the radio segment “Let’s Talk Fort Worth,” has helped to lead the chorus demanding that he be taken to a hospital. “We’re asking that his medical situation be given serious attention right now, be- cause he’s not doing well,” she said. “His spirits are a little higher because [Denton County] released him, but at the same time, his physical condition has not changed and is worsening every day.” Cindy Spoon with the grassroots orga- nization Denton Bail Fund, which hosted last Wednesday’s protest, said the county doesn’t want to pay for the amputation surgery. She thinks they released Corley so that he can get treatment on someone else’s tab. Spoon is happy Corley may soon receive care but said his case is part of a much broader issue of medical abuse and neglect happening at the Denton County Jail. Last month, the Denton Record-Chronicle reported that the institution had failed the state’s jail standards inspection. It partly made the non-compliant list because staff didn’t properly check on a female inmate “who later died of unknown causes,” the Re- cord-Chronicle noted. Denton County Jail also made head- lines during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Inmates claimed they weren’t provided functioning masks and that newly incarcerated women were made to bunk with those who’d tested positive for the virus. Corley needs to get some form of justice, such as financial compensation, Spoon said. “It’s not right that they are able to create this life-altering harm to an individual and then just release them after,” she said. “And I also wonder if this would be happening if it wasn’t for the protest and the phone calls and the public pressure that we’ve been put- ting on them.” Greg’s father, Jeff Corley, said he was “ecstatic” to hear about Corley’s re- that our citizens would hold people like Greg Abbott accountable for that,” she said. “It’s unacceptable, it’s inhumane, and it is reckless and dangerous.” In 2019, the El Paso shooting suspect cited a supposed “Mexican invasion” in his manifesto. He allegedly crossed the state with the intent to kill people who looked Mexican, ultimately claiming 23 lives at a Walmart. Although Abbott condemned the shoot- ing, he isn’t the only one warning of a border crisis today. Earlier in June, officials from several border counties announced that they’d declared an invasion at Texas’ south- ern frontier. The U.S.-Mexico border was recently deemed “the deadliest land crossing in the world,” having witnessed at least 728 deaths in 2021, according to the United Na- tions’ International Organization for Mi- gration. Still, advocates and rights groups have Denton County/Simone Carter Gregory Corley holds up his injured arm in a video call. lease. He wants his son to finally receive the surgery he so desperately needs. “I sure appreciate all the help that every- body’s given us to get us this far,” he said. “I’m just still appalled at the way they han- dled all that in Denton County. … Dereliction of duty is what I’d call it.” ▼ POLITICS ‘RECKLESS AND DANGEROUS’ T pushed back on the GOP’s claims of a sup- posed “open border” approach by President Joe Biden’s administration. “Virtually all of [former President Don- ald] Trump’s policies are still in place; not a single inch of wall has been torn down,” Es- cobar said. “In many ways, the status quo that existed under the Trump administra- tion, it still exists today, so this idea that sud- denly the border is open is just a lie.” Abbott is trying to ramp up border para- ADVOCATES FEAR THAT TEXAS GOV. GREG ABBOTT’S CONTINUED BORDER CLAMPDOWN COULD CONTRIBUTE TO VIOLENCE AGAINST LATINOS. BY SIMONE CARTER he Texas GOP continues to warn of an “invasion” at the southern border. Prominent Lone Star Democrats are asking them to drop the rhetoric and stop spreading conspiracy theories. Earlier this month, Gov. Greg Abbott is- sued an executive order aimed at appre- hending undocumented immigrants and returning them to the border. Supporters say the move is necessary amid federal ne- glect. Detractors say it stands on shaky legal grounds and could result in racial profiling against Latinos. El Paso Congresswoman Veronica Esco- bar slammed the governor’s “invasion” rhet- oric during a call hosted by America’s Voice, an immigration advocacy group. The Demo- crat said his latest border endeavors amount to a “misuse of resources.” Critics have widely panned many of Ab- bott’s border efforts as political theater, in- cluding the busing of migrants to Washington, D.C. Abbott’s red-meat rhetoric concerns Es- cobar. She fears it could lead to attacks on communities like hers. “Should there be any violence that is linked to this kind of rhetoric, I would hope noia for political gain, said Antonio Arellano, the vice president of communications for the progressive advocacy nonprofit Next- Gen America. Abbott has promoted conspir- acy theories and “inject[ed] hate” ahead of the race to drum up more support from the GOP base, Arellano claimed. Regardless, he said, such political stunts can carry serious consequences that imperil safety for both Texans and migrants. Abbott’s office didn’t return a request for comment by publication time. But in a state- ment to the Observer last week, a spokesper- son said Texas was prepared to step in to do the federal government’s job. The spokesperson pointed out that the state “has deployed thousands of Texas Na- tional Guard soldiers and DPS troopers and spent over $4 billion of Texas taxpayer money to secure our border, including building our own border wall, erecting stra- tegic barriers and sending significant re- sources to help our local partners.” Political ads are turning more nativist in nature and are “increasingly violent and dangerous,” said Zach Mueller, America’s Voice political director. Conspiracy theo- ries about an invasion have been linked to mass shootings in Buffalo, El Paso and Pittsburgh. Republicans, especially those running in battleground border districts, must speak out against this kind of rhetoric, Mueller ar- gued. “These Republican candidates must publicly refute these dangerous ideas,” he added. “Otherwise, they are complicit in the dangerous targets that have been put on the backs of those communities.” >> p6 1 dallasobserver.com | CONTENTS | UNFAIR PARK | SCHUTZE | FEATURE | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | MOVIES | DISH | MUSIC | CLASSIFIED | DALLAS OBSERVER MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2014 JULY 21–27, 2022 DALLAS OBSERVER CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | CULTURE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS dallasobserver.com
