Featured Advertisers
Fri, Nov. 13  -   -  Mobile  -  RSS
  

Make a post about this story on FredTalk. Get a printer-friendly version of this page. E-mail this story to a friend.
View the Westmoreland County community page

Inmates blame jail for suicide

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.


1  2  3  Next Page  

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."



Follow us on
twitter
fredericksburg.com Facebook page


Date published: 1/5/2008


Most recent reader comments:

Viewing all 5 comments. (Sorted in reverse order, with most recent post at the top.)

Display comments on this page. | Sort:

PLEASE READ: These reader comments are not moderated. Each user is solely responsible for any message (s)he posts here. The Free Lance-Star does not endorse the views expressed within these comments. All users who post to this Web site must agree to the terms of the FredTalk User Agreement. We rely on our readers to police themselves, and report any content that violates our User Agreement. In accordance with our User Agreement, we reserve the right to remove any post at any time for any reason, and will restrict access of registered users who repeatedly violate our terms. Any reader can report inappropriate content by clicking the "Report this post to admins" link at the bottom of each comment. You need not be registered to report a post.

Mr. Landman made the choice to be in jail (posted by troyb43 , Jan. 5, 2008 7:03 pm)   
Mr. Landman made the choice to live the lifestyle that he did, and living that type of lifestyle, he put himself in jail. One should seek help in something else besides consumption of alcohol. It is a shame that this man lost his life this way, but maybe those who abuse alcohol and drugs can learn from this sad situation. With Mr. Landman having as many drunken driving convictions as he had, it would appear to a normal thinking person he had an alcohol abuse problem and also a disregard for the law problem.

business as usual (posted by Tom James , Jan. 5, 2008 4:41 pm)   
http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/search.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-10-07-0134.html

It's a Jail, Not a Concentration Camp (posted by Frank_W , Jan. 5, 2008 3:42 pm)   
The man was in jail awaiting trail; in our society, our constitution provides that the accused is innocent until proven guilty. Once the accused is found guilty, regardless of the crime, the person is due adequate health care. That's why it's called a jail & not a concentration camp.

Re: At least it TELLS the whole story.... (posted by JeepnIt , Jan. 5, 2008 9:07 am)   
They may be criminals but they are still human beings. Have a little compassion. No one deserves to be driven to the point of suicide.

At least it tell the whole story... (posted by roadraid , Jan. 5, 2008 8:25 am)   
...and isn't the least bit one-sided. I mean, they really bought into this whole story by the CRIMINALS but haven't waited for the investigation to conclude. Nice FLS.

What do you think?
Enter your FredTalk username and password to post a comment on this story. If you are registered on FredTalk or another part of this site, use that login here. Otherwise, you can just REGISTER here... .

Username: Password:

Post title:


Please keep it brief: (512-character limit)
Please make sure CAPS LOCK is off. Posts in ALL CAPS will be deleted.)


By checking this box, you agree to the terms of the FredTalk User agreement.