Family of emciated Alabama inmate fears for his life

The family of 32-year-old Kastellio Vaughan now fears for his life, saying the Alabama Department of Corrections is neglecting his health.

“He’s looking terrible. Just one word, terrible. He’s feeling weak in spirit. He’s really just, he’s really feeling low,” Kascie Vaughan told ABC News. “He doesn’t look like Kastellio, the brother that we know.”

Kastellio Vaughan’s condition

Kastellio Vaughan is currently serving 25 years on burglary and break-in charges in 2019.

Vaughan’s sister received disturbing photos of her older brother earlier this month along with an urgent plea to get him help. Photos depicting Kastellio Vaughan emaciated, with a large, undressed wound extending down his abdominal area were allegedly sent by an unidentified inmate at Elmore Correctional Center.

He said, ‘Your brother’s not gonna make it until Monday. Please get him help.’…[He said] they brought him back to general population at the prison, they didn’t cover up his wounds, and the staples was bursting out of his abdomen,” Kassie Vaughan told ABC News.

The inmate who sent the photos claimed he saw Kastellio Vaughan vomiting and in a weakened state after being released to Elmore’s general population on Aug. 30. That was the same day Kastellio Vaughan had surgery to remove part of his small intestine due to complications from an old gunshot wound, according to his sisters.

Surgery

The family says they were unaware Kastellio Vaughan underwent a procedure until receiving the photos.

Kastellio Vaughan was transferred to Staton Correctional Facility’s Medical Observation Unit last Friday, according to the Alabama Department of Corrections.

Prison officials said Kastellio Vaughan has since been in touch with his family and was observed walking and eating after his transfer to Staton Correctional.

“He has been in contact with his family to update them on his situation and ease their concerns,” the department said in a statement about Vaughan’s condition on Friday. “Inmate Vaughan has requested and received medical attention with the ADOC at least 11 times between July 30, 2022, and September 22, 2022. As a result, each time he received appropriate medical treatment and/or care.”

“The ADOC offers a constitutional level care to all inmates,” its statement continued. “However, inmates are not required to undergo care, just as citizens in the civilian world are afforded choice of whether to receive care.”

Harrowing photos

Vaughan decided to share the harrowing photos on her Facebook to bring attention to her brother’s condition. They immediately went viral being shared over 19,000 times.

Kastellio Vaughan’s legal team

Civil rights attorneys Lee Merritt, Harry Daniels, and Ben Crump, are now representing Vaughan, fighting to get him the proper care. They allege this is a case of medical neglect that points to larger issues in the prison system. Kastellio Vaughan’s legal team alleges he’s lost 75 pounds in less than a month.

“This is horrific,” Crump said in a statement on Sunday. “Let’s be clear, the state of Alabama has tried to deflect any action or responsibility for Mr. Vaughan’s condition at every turn. If it wasn’t for these pictures, the media spotlight and the resulting uproar, we might never have known about the neglect and Mr. Vaughan would have died before the public knew anything was happening.”

“It shouldn’t have been prisoners sending emergency text messages and photographs to his family, but it should have been the medical staff who are responsible for the health and safety of everyone who is under their care,” Merritt said. “It is not as if Mr. Kastellio could have gone to see a doctor himself or scheduled an appointment. He is an inmate at that prison and the law requires that they honor their duty to provide for their prisoners’ wellbeing.”

“It doesn’t matter what Kastellio did, why he was in jail, doesn’t matter. As society as a whole, as human beings, we have a duty to one another. It doesn’t matter what that person is imprisoned for,” Daniels told ABC News. “We need this man to get well. Alright, we need him to get help. That’s not asking for a whole lot.”