Kevin Strickland sues Missouri prison healthcare provider for neglecting medical needs

Kevin Strickland, who was freed from prison in November after suffering Missouri’s longest known wrongful conviction, filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the state’s former prison medical provider, alleging it neglected his serious back needs.

In the federal lawsuit, attorneys for 62-year-old Strickland, who now uses a wheelchair, said Corizon disregarded his back problems that stemmed from spinal stenosis and neurologic deficits. He was denied off-site evaluation and specialty care, they claimed.

Strickland was released Nov. 23 from the Western Missouri Correctional Center after he spent more than 43 years behind bars for a triple murder in Kansas City that Jackson County prosecutors determined he did not commit.

While he was incarcerated at the Cameron prison, there was a “deliberate indifference” to his medical needs, according to the lawsuit filed in the Western District of Missouri. It alleges that Corizon’s policies caused Strickland to “suffer substantial loss of mobility and pain” in violation of the Eighth Amendment.

“He sustained, and continues to sustain, mental and emotional pain, anguish and anxiety knowing that his physical ailment has not been treated, continues to deteriorate, and may result in a permanent loss of bodily function,” his lawyers wrote.

Corizon, which until recently was contracted to provide comprehensive care to incarcerated people in the Missouri Department of Corrections, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Strickland is also suing several of its employees.

Corizon’s contract with the state expired last year. In mid-November, Centurion Health, a competitor, took over the services under a three-year contract with the Missouri Department of Corrections.

In previous interviews with The Star, Strickland has said he hopes to find work once his back is fixed. He could see himself working as a forklift driver, something he did as a teenager. But he can’t stand for more than a few minutes at a time.

Strickland was diagnosed with musculoligamentous back pain and possible mild tight hamstring syndrome in February 2017. He complained a few months later that he was having difficulty walking, according to his lawsuit. His numbness was worsening.

Later that year, Strickland was taken to the medical unit in a wheelchair because he could not walk, his lawyers said. He was given an injection and returned to the housing unit. He complained again two days later, with a nurse noting that he could not bend over. He was given another injection and was again told to return to the medical unit if his symptoms became worse.

By September 2017, Strickland was diagnosed with paresthesia in his legs.

Corizon staff at the prison were not able to provide all medical treatment. Strickland’s referral requests for off-site treatment from specialists, though, were denied, according to the lawsuit. That included a request for an MRI to rule out spinal stenosis.

In early 2018, Strickland was given a wheelchair with a pusher and was prescribed an opioid for his pain. His medical needs continued to be neglected until he was released in 2021, according to his lawyers at Arthur Benson II’s law office and the Leatherwood Firm.

Last year, the push to free Strickland gained national attention. He suffered the seventh longest wrongful imprisonment acknowledged in U.S. history and the longest in Missouri by more than a decade.

The Star’s Bill Lukitsch contributed to this report.