Sarah Lee Circle Bear, the 24-year-old woman who died after she experienced severe body pain inside her jail cell, might have been ignored by jail staff, according to witnesses.
Sarah Sunshine Manning, a reporter for the newspaper Indian Country Today, wrote how witnesses saw Circle Bear pleading to her jailers for help after she suddenly experienced excruciating pain.
The jail staff allegedly dismissed her cries by telling her to "knock it off" or "quit faking it." The inmates inside the jail cell intervened and pleaded with them to help Circle Bear.
They eventually helped Circle Bear by "picking her up off of the floor, dragging her out of the cell, and transferring her to a holding cell," Manning wrote.
Circle Bear was then found unresponsive in her holding cell. She died after she was taken to the hospital a few hours later on July 6, according to KDLT News.
Manning also wrote that Circle Bear's family is intending to sue the staff who neglected her and are looking into different options for lawyers.
The case of Sarah Lee Circle Bear is one of many cases in the country where female inmates have died under the custody of the police, but hers was not something that was made public. Two weeks ago, Sandra Bland was found dead in her Texas jail cell by way of suicide.
Kindra Chapman, 18, hanged herself inside her cell at Homewood City Jail on July 15, while Ralkina Jones, 37, was found dead in her jail cell in Cleveland on July 6, The Independent UK reported.
