Former Federal Bureau of Prisons Employees Convicted of Charges Arising from Their Failure to Obtain Medical Care for an Inmate Who Later Died from His Injuries
A Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) lieutenant was found guilty this past weekend of violating the civil rights of an inmate by showing deliberate indifference to the inmate’s serious medical needs. The lieutenant and a FBOP nurse were also found guilty of making false statements to a federal agent with the intent to obstruct the investigation into the inmate’s death.
According to court documents and evidence introduced at trial, Lieutenant Shronda Covington, 49, of Chesterfield, Virginia, and Registered Nurse Tonya Farley, 53, of Chesterfield, were on duty and working in their official capacities at the Federal Correctional Institution at Petersburg, Virginia, on Jan. 9, 2021. Covington willfully failed to ensure that the inmate, a 47-year-old man identified as W.W., was provided with necessary medical care, even though she knew that W.W. had a serious medical need, and Covington and Farley each made false statements to federal agents during the investigation into the inmate’s death.
