Former county jail inmate sues Sheriff's Office for mistreatment 

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• FILE PHOTO BY HENRY BRUINGTON
• FRESH ACCUSATION Rick Holliday, pictured in 2014, once sued Morro Bay for impeding his civil rights. He recently filed a lawsuit against SLO County and the Sheriff’s Office for allegedly denying him a proper wheelchair, pain medication, and ADA-compliant amenities when he was a prisoner at the county jail.

A former San Luis Obispo County Jail inmate is attempting to hold the county and the Sheriff's Office accountable for negligence and not complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Rick Holliday, a man with mobility issues who served time in the jail from Feb. 8 to 15 this year, filed a lawsuit on Aug. 10 alleging the Sheriff's Office denied him a proper wheelchair, pain medication, an ADA-compliant cell, and an ADA-compliant toilet and shower space even after knowing about his medical condition.

The lawsuit states that Holliday has end-stage arthritis of both hip joints, an extensive subchondral cyst, and two inguinal hernias. He's been suffering from these conditions since prior to his incarceration, the document added.

"Despite being made aware of his disabilities, at no time was he provided by jail staff a 'Notice of Rights for Inmates with Disabilities under the [ADA]' as was required under the agreement," the complaint said.

The "agreement" refers to settlement terms that the county agreed to in June 2021 with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to resolve alleged violations at the county jail, including failing to provide adequate medical and mental health care and using excessive force with impunity.

The county jail caught the DOJ's attention in 2018 after the much-publicized death of inmate Andrew Holland. He spent 46 hours strapped to a restraint chair before dying of a pulmonary embolism. The DOJ investigated the county jail for three years, found systemic violations there, and beckoned SLO County to cooperate on reforms or face a federal lawsuit.

The subsequent settlement agreement went into effect for two years until June 2023, Holliday's lawsuit stated.

After taking Holliday's wheelchair away at the time of booking him into county jail, the staff allegedly didn't provide a replacement. Then, when he informed jail staff of his medical conditions, they placed him in a holding cell for roughly 15 hours without a wheelchair, the lawsuit said. He was forced to sit on a concrete bench, which the lawsuit states exacerbated his hip condition.

Later, staff transported him by wheelchair to the classifications department.

"The wheelchair the jail used for this was not clean and covered in another person's urine," the complaint read. "Despite this, [Holliday] was made to sit in it and was not allowed to rinse off or clean himself after using it."

Jail staff then reportedly placed Holliday in an unsanitary solitary confinement cell devoid of an ADA-compliant toilet. The cell floor allegedly had human feces and blood on the wall beside the toilet.

"These filthy and unhealthy conditions caused [Holliday] to have trouble breathing and he informed jail staff of the cell conditions and was informed that he would be provided a mop or rag to clean it up," the lawsuit said.

But he never received the mop or rag, according to the document. He claimed not to have received pain medication for two days, and said jail staff never provided him with an appropriately sized hernia belt or inhaler in spite of his repeated requests.

Holliday is no stranger to legal brawls with local government. In April 2014, he sued the city of Morro Bay after officials deemed a building on Market Avenue—the former home of the Sun Bulletin—unsafe to occupy. Holliday and his partners had plans since 2011 to lease the building and open a multi-use business. Though Holliday was no longer a stakeholder in the building, he alleged the city impeded his civil rights by preventing him and his partners from pursuing the lease application.

A month after suing Morro Bay, Holliday received $4,301 for a personal injury claim he filed against the city after tripping on a sidewalk.

In 2018, Holliday created and distributed "wanted" posters bearing the names of SLO County District Attorney Dan Dow and 11 Atascadero city employees and elected officials.

The flyers offered a $250,000 reward for "evidence leading to the arrest and conviction" of those named. Prior New Times reporting found that he placed those flyers on the cars of people who attended the debate between Dow and his then opponent Judge Mike Cummins in the June 2018 primary election.

At the time, county court documents showed that the DA's Office filed multiple felony charges, including grand theft, against Holliday. The complaints also involved numerous misdemeanors including contracting without a license.

The Sheriff's Office didn't respond to New Times' request for comment on Holliday's allegations about the jail and deferred to county Counsel Rita Neal.

"The county has thoroughly reviewed the complaint and we intend to vigorously defend this matter," Neal said. Δ