William Hager died of water intoxication at the Erie County Correctional Facility in Alden. A state report — and two fellow inmates who watched him die — say medical staff could have prevented his death.
Nearly three years after a homeless veteran died in an Erie County jail by water intoxication, a state oversight body found that his death could have been prevented.
The New York State Commission of Correction concluded that psychiatric staff at the Erie County Correctional Facility in Alden “failed to adequately diagnose” William Hager’s psychosis and monitor side effects of a medication he took.
Two former inmates housed in the same unit as Hager said they saw the failings of the medical staff firsthand, and watched their neighbor deteriorate, then die, before their eyes…