KTLA

Central Coast Inmate Dies After Being Strapped to Chair Naked, Left in Filth for 2 Days; Family Receives Legal Settlement

Sharon Holland, left, and husband Carty look over photos and letters written by their son Andrew Holland. (Credit: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

For 46 hours, Andrew Holland’s legs and arms were shackled to a chair in the San Luis Obispo County jail.

The inmate, who suffered from schizophrenia, was left in his own filth, eating and drinking almost nothing. He was naked, except for a helmet and mask covering his face and a blanket that slipped off his lap, exposing him to jail staff who passed by his glass-fronted cell.

When he was finally unbound, guards dumped him to the floor of a nearby cell. Within 40 minutes, he had stopped breathing.

Holland’s death Jan. 22 has provoked outrage in the Central Coast county, a record $5-million legal settlement, and questions about the way California jails handle a sharp increase in the number of mentally ill inmates.

Read the full story on LATimes.com

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