Northern Neck Jail inmates say lack of medical treatment led to ailing podmate's suicide

Date published: 1/5/2008

BY FRANK DELANO

Until his suicide last month, James C. Landman, 68, was the oldest of the 26 inmates in one of the prisoner pods of the Northern Neck Regional Jail in Warsaw.

He was also suffering from cancer. According to his friends and podmates, a lack of medical care at the jail contributed to Landman's death.

"We called him 'Pops.' He was like a granddaddy to everybody. Everybody liked him. He was an old bartender, an Army veteran, a seafood dealer, a hustler. He didn't seem like a bad guy," said Joseph M. Powell Jr. of Colonial Beach.

Powell, 41, has been jailed since April awaiting trial on five Westmoreland County felony charges. Landman arrived in the pod Aug. 19 after an auto accident in the county.

The deputy who responded to the accident charged him with drunken driving. It was Landman's fourth DUI charge. The deputy also found a warrant for Landman's arrest issued in 1999.

Back then, Landman had served almost a year in the jail for signing his father's name to another DUI ticket. When he got out, he failed to report to his probation officer to start a year of supervision and alcohol treatment.

In September of this year, Landman was sentenced to six months in jail for violating the terms of his parole. He would have been released next month.

Friends of Landman said that during his eight years on the run, he lived at various times with his family in Maryland, a brother in Arizona, a friend in Florida and friends in the Westmoreland fishing community of Chatham Village.

"He was as good a guy as you could meet. He'd give you the shirt right off his back," said Lee Hundley of Chatham Village.

'he was in a lot of pain'

Hundley said Landman loved Cadillacs, old cars and NASCAR races. When Landman was in Chatham Village, Hundley said that he worked at a transmission shop, as a painter and handyman and as a bartender at the Coles Point Tavern.

Podmates' letter: 'They pushed him as far as he could go' After James C. Landman's suicide, 17 of his fellow inmates in a pod of the Northern Neck Regional Jail signed this handwritten letter to his family: "We could see how Mr. Landman was suffering with his medical situation. He, as well as others, have and still continue to battle with the medical department here. Mr. Landman and others wrote grievances trying to get him help. It seemed to be an endless battle no one could win. I think they pushed him as far as he could go. "In his last days, no one could see this coming, but he had withdrawn from sitting up front and watching TV and playing cards with everyone. We all just figured he was going through things, as we all have hardships in here . "In his last several hours, he sat with a few of us watching the Letterman Show and the late shows. We laughed and talked of the holidays and past events. We were talking about different holiday dishes and what we liked. One dish was a stuffed ham. He told us how good he was cooking this dish. Our mouths watered. "Mr. Landman was loved here as well."

Date published: 1/5/2008

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