SAN ANTONIO — A San Antonio family is suing Bexar County days after their mother died while in custody, saying that her civil rights were violated.
Janice Dotson-Stephens – who had been behind bars since July on a $300 bond – died on Dec. 14 from natural causes, according to authorities. But her family on Friday said the 61-year-old was ignored to death, calling her passing the culmination of neglecting someone with a history of mental illness.
According to her family, this wasn’t Dotson-Stephens’s first run-in with the law. But this time around, they were not directly contacted, claiming that, as far as they know, she never received a mental health evaluation.
“She served five months—almost the total sentence of a Class B misdemeanor,” said Les Sachanowicz, the family’s attorney. “She spent five months without seeing the inside of a courtroom, so she was never adjudicated. and that really is a shame.”
Specifically, the lawsuit was filed against the county, its hospital district and also its pretrial services program.
Dotson-Stephens was one of three inmates who died while in custody over a 72-hour period last week.
BCSO released the following statement in response to the lawsuit:
"We have not been served with any legal process. We will defer to the District Attorney's Office regarding any legal matters."