A Connecticut man convicted of killing a classmate who rejected his prom invitation is suing corrections officials, claiming they’ve turned a deaf ear to complaints about his medical care while locked up.
Christopher Plaskon, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the April 2014 slaying of 16-year-old Maren Sanchez, is seeking $300,000 in damages for multiple claims of deliberate indifference from prison officials to his severe stomach ailments that began in November 2018, the Hartford Courant reported.
Plaskon’s handwritten 23-page lawsuit names the Connecticut Department of Corrections, the warden at McDougall-Walker Correctional Facility and its medical staffers as defendants.
The Jan. 8 filing alleges the convicted killer, now 23, has struggled to get treatment for severe stomach and abdominal pain while incarcerated, leading to “significant weight loss” and insomnia — as well as marked decreases in his appetite, strength and physical endurance, the newspaper reported.
Relatives of Plaskon — who stabbed Sanchez on prom day as they were 16-year-old juniors at Jonathan Law High School in Milford — initially contacted the warden at the state lockup as well as the commissioner’s office at the Department of Correction regarding his health issues, but got no response, the lawsuit claims.
Plaskon later saw several medical providers, but received ineffective medication or waited too long for additional visits. On at least two occasions, he was prescribed medicine that actually worsened his condition, according to the filing.
Plaskon, who is representing himself in the lawsuit, was granted permission to see a gastrointestinal specialist at UConn Health in March, but needed to wait until non-emergency hospital trips resumed to receive treatment, he wrote.
Plaskon was later told by prison staff he was still on a list once those trips resumed and to get back in touch with them if his symptoms worsened. Plaskon alleges he then had stomach pain in late November that sent him to the prison’s medical unit, where he learned he dropped 17 pounds within the past four months, his lawsuit claims.
A gastrointestinal specialist was set to see Plaskon in January, but a coronavirus outbreak at his state lockup led to moratorium on outside medical visits, according to the lawsuit.
DOC officials, meanwhile, declined to comment on Plaskon, citing pending litigation.
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