A woman who died in custody at the Jefferson County Detention Facility was left alone in a jail cell for nearly an hour even after a nurse could not find her pulse or blood pressure, according to a federal civil rights lawsuit filed this week.
Ashley Jo Raisbeck, a 27-year-old woman with a penicillin allergy, died on Dec. 16, 2023, from severe dehydration, intestinal issues and anaphylactic shock after jail staff gave her the antibiotic Keflex, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
Keflex, or cephalexin, has similar properties to penicillin and is generally not used on people with a penicillin allergy, according to the .
A Jefferson County Coroner’s Office autopsy report released by Raisbeck’s family lists her cause of death as complications from intussusception, or an intestinal blockage, and ruled the manner of her death as natural.
According to the lawsuit, Raisbeck was “poisoned and overdosed” by Keflex, a medication jail staff knew she was allergic to. Raisbeck’s penicillin allergy was noted on her jail medical records, and she had previously refused the medication in writing at the detention facility, the lawsuit stated.
“Raisbeck’s death was caused by official policies, longstanding customs, systemic failures and deliberate inaction that created and perpetuated unconstitutional conditions of confinement and medical care,” the lawsuit stated.
The defendants — including nurse practitioner Monica Jarrell of VitalCore Health Strategies, Jefferson County Sheriff Reggie Marinelli, Jefferson County and its Board of Commissioners, VitalCore Health Strategies and a dozen other medical staff and law enforcement officials — “did not just engage in negligence, but in willful and wanton deliberate indifference to Ms. Raisbeck’s serious medical needs,” the lawsuit stated.
The sheriff’s office did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Raisbeck was on a detox protocol from alcohol and drugs when she was given the medication, and after causing Raisbeck’s allergic reaction, the jail’s medical staff ignored her severe dehydration, concerning vital signs, pain, cramping, black vomit and other symptoms for four days, the lawsuit alleges.
Symptoms including low blood pressure, bloody vomit, severe abdominal pain and an elevated pulse should have prompted the nurses to immediately notify a physician, but they never did, according to the lawsuit.
At that point, nurse Shanda Baer could not get a blood pressure reading or hear a pulse, according to the lawsuit. Still, Baer and Deputy Debbie Gonzales — who was aware of the lack of readings — left Raisbeck alone for nearly an hour to “finish their rounds” on three other inmates instead of calling 911, the lawsuit alleges.
Baer then improperly administered Narcan, despite no indication or symptoms of an overdose, and that misuse delayed Raisbeck getting proper care and misled emergency services, attorneys for Raisbeck’s family wrote in the complaint.
Toxicology reports later showed that drugs remained in her system from before her arrest, but did not cause or contribute to Raisbeck’s death, according to a decision letter from the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
A critical incident response team investigated Raisbeck’s death and in 2024, District Attorney Alexis King released a finding that law enforcement was not criminally responsible for her death. The letter notes Raisbeck’s history of heavy drug use but does not mention her penicillin allergy.
“Had Ms. Raisbeck received timely care, even after VitalCore’s poisoning, she would likely be alive and well today,” attorneys representing the woman’s estate wrote in the lawsuit. “She certainly would not have spent the last days of her life in debilitating pain, disoriented, frightened and alone in a jail cell.”
Raisbeck’s attorneys also claim jail and county officials tried to cover up any mistakes that happened after she was arrested by the Wheat Ridge Police Department on Dec. 13, 2023, and brought to the jail.
Jefferson County attorneys refused to provide Raisbeck’s team with body-worn-camera video of her arrest, jail intake video, the police report and other records that should have been included in the CIRT file, according to the lawsuit. When the attorneys requested those records directly from law enforcement agencies, they were again denied.
“Officials and staff engaged in a coordinated effort to conceal wrongdoing, including withholding critical medical records, failing to preserve video, altering timelines and medical records, omitting key facts in the CIRT report and publicly releasing false and private medical information to shift blame onto the deceased — knowing it to be false that Ms. Raisbeck’s death was the result of an overdose or due to withdrawal,” the lawsuit stated.
Jefferson County and VitalCore also failed to properly train deputies, chronically understaffed the detention facility, failed to supervise medical staff, failed to preserve medical and surveillance records, delayed emergency medical services and inadequately documented Raisbeck’s case, according to the lawsuit.
The two years since Raisbeck’s death have been “agonizing” for her family, attorney Anita Springsteen said Wednesday.
“Her mother, Jamie, lost her son to murder just a couple of years before Ashley died, so to lose a second child is almost too much for somebody to bear,” Springsteen said.
Springsteen said she believes medical malpractice in Colorado’s jails is not unique to Raisbeck’s case.
“Something’s got to give. Something’s got to change. You can’t treat human beings like this,” she said.
The lawsuit seeks monetary damages for violating Raisbeck’s civil rights, medical negligence causing death, wrongful death and other claims.
