The death of a man in the Shoshone County jail last fall could have been prevented had deputies not delayed seeking emergency medical care for six hours, public records revealed.
Logan Galloway, 44, died Nov. 7, 2024, due to pulmonary thromboembolism, or blood clots that traveled from his legs to his lungs.
In March, Shoshone County Sheriff Holly Lindsey denied claims circulating on social media that deputies failed to provide Galloway with appropriate medical care during the two days he spent in custody for an alleged probation violation.
“During that time, Mr. Galloway was seen by the contracted jail medical staff and was in the process of medical transport at the time of his death,” Lindsey said in March.
Lindsey declined to comment on the matter this week, citing “pending litigation.”
Newly obtained investigatory reports show that the day before his death, Galloway complained to jail deputies of pain and numbness in his legs that left him unable to walk.
After the jail’s contracted physician assistant examined Galloway and advised deputies that he needed to be transported to a hospital by ambulance, deputies did not contact emergency medical services for six hours.
Galloway died in an ambulance outside the jail.
The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office investigated Galloway’s death and concluded that the delay in care “may have caused a survivable event to become a fatal event,” according to a report. The Shoshone County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office determined there was “no criminal liability” for any member of the sheriff’s office after Galloway’s death.
Galloway was booked into the Shoshone County jail on Tuesday, Nov. 5. At that time, “he complained of pain in his back and numbness in his legs,” according to KCSO’s report.
By Wednesday, public records said, Galloway could not walk. Deputies placed him in a wheelchair in order to move him to another cell block for a virtual court appearance, but the wheelchair did not fit through the cell door, so they placed him on a blanket and dragged him along the floor.
Though Scott Gibbs, the physician assistant who provided medical services to the jail, was available “any day, any time, day or night” by phone to advise jail staff about medical care for detainees, no one contacted him, records say.
Gibbs arrived around 7 a.m. Thursday for his weekly visit to the jail, according to public records, and found Galloway on the floor of his cell, sweating profusely.
“Galloway told Gibbs he was experiencing pain in his back and could not feel or move his legs,” the KCSO report said. “Galloway also indicated he had not urinated or defecated in several days.”
Gibbs advised deputies that Galloway “needed to go by ambulance to the hospital immediately,” according to a report. He told investigators that he made a written record to this effect and “didn’t understand why no one was doing anything.”
After Gibbs left the jail, Capt. Eli Lopez directed an off-duty deputy to come to the jail and accompany Galloway to the hospital, according to public records. The deputy indicated he had to travel to Fairchild Air Force Base to update his personnel information first and would accompany Galloway after he had returned to Shoshone County.
This process took about five hours, records show. Staff did not call for an ambulance until after the deputy arrived at the jail, after 2 p.m.
Idaho law requires county commissioners to inspect jail facilities on a quarterly basis, but there is no regulatory oversight of jails.
“Each jail essentially gets to make up their own rules,” said Dina Brewer, community intake manager for the ACLU of Idaho. “We don’t have consistency across jails. It makes it really hard, if they’re not providing adequate care for the prisoners, to get (the prisoners’) rights protected. There’s no one for them to go to.”
The Idaho Sheriff’s Association, a nonprofit composed of former sheriffs and law enforcement officers that advocates on behalf of sheriffs, publishes a manual detailing standards for jails and inspects jails throughout the state annually. But these inspections are voluntary and there is no consequence for failing to meet standards.
Ben Wolfinger, who served two terms as sheriff in Kootenai County, is the jail inspector for the Idaho Sheriff’s Association. He said some jail facilities are so small that meeting all the standards set by the sheriff’s association is nigh impossible. For example, the Benewah County jail is located on the third floor of the county courthouse and necessarily lacks an outdoor recreation area, falling short of the standard.
“A lot of counties in the state don’t meet the standard,” Wolfinger said. “It doesn’t mean they’re doing a bad job.”
The Shoshone County jail failed the two most recent inspections, according to public records. In 2023 and 2024, the jail was over capacity most days of the year. Due to staffing shortages in 2024, only one deputy was on duty shift at times and jail staff failed to meet the standard of physically observing all detainees at least once every 60 minutes.
The jail complied with standards for health care services, with medical screening done at booking and a medical provider visiting the jail weekly for sick calls. Detainees reported that they knew how to request non-emergency medical care.
“If a serious medical issue is reported, EMS or medical staff will be contacted,” a 2024 letter from the sheriff’s association noted.
Galloway lay in a cell, unable to move his legs, for “approximately 23 hours,” according to an administrative review, “in violation of multiple jail policies.” He died within an hour of the ambulance’s arrival.
No action or inaction from any jail staff caused the pulmonary thromboembolism that killed Galloway, according to KCSO’s report — but if he had received emergency medical care “in a more timely manner,” he may have survived the event.
Speaking generally about medical care in Idaho jails, Wolfinger said he would expect jail staff to arrange for emergency medical transport swiftly if a medical professional deemed it necessary.
“It’s common sense,” he said. “If a doctor said they should be transported right away, (jail staff) should call an ambulance or transport them right away, according to the doctor’s orders. I would think that needs to be followed immediately.”
Brewer said the ACLU of Idaho receives numerous complaints annually related to denial of medical or mental health care in Idaho jails and prisons, but the lack of oversight and consequences for failing to meet standards of care makes it difficult to improve jail conditions.
“Having some state oversight is necessary to provide consistent information and standards of care across all the different jails,” she said. “It’s really hard to fix a problem when you don’t have good data on it.”
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Josh McDonald contributed to this report.
Reports: Shoshone County deputies delayed medical care for man who died in jail
