Federal lawsuits filed by the families of two inmates who died in county lockups.

In the last two weeks, the families of two inmates who died in custody in Monterey County have filed federal lawsuits. The picture portrayed in the complaints is not pretty.

On Dec. 26, the family of Dimitris Kalatzakis—a former Salinas Valley State Prison inmate found dead in his cell in October 2013—filed suit against several prison officers, including SVSP’s warden, among others.

According to the Monterey County Coroner’s report, Kalatzakis died from “blunt force trauma with strangulation,” and is alleged to have been murdered by his cellmate Brandon Keen.

In the lawsuit, it states Keen had been serving 25 years “for mayhem related to his 2012 attack on a fellow inmate at Riverside County Jail,” and “was convicted of attacking another inmate with a razor blade and slashing him on his face and ears. The suit also alleges that Keen was known by prison officials to participate in gang related activities and was identified as a “skinhead.”

Kalatzakis’ family is alleging that the policies and practices of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) were inadequate to protect him “given the known dangerousness of conditions at SVSP.” It states inmates with prior violence toward cellmates should not be double celled, and that Kalatzakis’ circumstances arose from the prison being severely overcrowded with a population at “143.6 percent of design capacity.”

The complaint reports that the rate of inmate on inmate homicides at SVSP from August 2013 to December  2013 was the highest of any CDCR maximum security prison.

Kalatzakis’ family is seeking punitive damages violations of his rights and failure to adhere to legal mandates of prisoner supervision.

An earlier suit, filed Dec. 16, concerns the death of Jacob Parenti, who died in Monterey County Jail Jan. 15. Both the county and several individuals are named as defendants.

Parenti’s family alleges he was denied adequate medical treatment, and the timeline set forth in the lawsuit goes like this:

Parenti, who was serving a one-year sentence for a probation violation, developed flu-like symptoms Jan. 10, and around the same time, began coughing up blood. He didn’t receive a medical appointment for a sick call request he put in that same day, nor did he receive one following another request Jan. 12.

On the morning of Jan. 15, Parenti ate breakfast with other inmates at 3:45am, and was “awake and alert.” At 9:45 am, he was called with other patients to see the nurse, but did not respond. A prison officer allegedly shook Parenti and found him unresponsive (but still breathing), but did not summon any medical attention to his cell.

At about 10:45am, other inmates noticed a “bluish tint” on his face, and notified officers there was a man down.

While the county’s coroner report concluded Parenti died of mixed drug intoxication, Parenti’s family arranged for an independent autopsy that indicated he died from a flu complicated by pneumonia.

Parenti’s family suit includes claims or rights violations, failure to furnish medical care, negligence and wrongful death.

Parenti was only 33 when he died, and left behind one 7-year-old son.