Illegal Immigrants Received Poor Care In Jail, Lawyers Say

York County officials feared that Yarzue had cancer. Shortly after the county sued, he was transferred to another jail. He was deported to Liberia in August, and his whereabouts are unknown.

In another case that lawyers are investigating, they claim that an illegal immigrant detainee, Martin Banderas of Mexico, might lose a leg because Immigration Health Services officials would not approve a culture to determine whether he had developed gangrene from a cut he suffered in a shower.

After the cut opened in December, doctors removed dead skin from Banderas's leg and treated him with antibiotics. During the treatment, it was discovered that Banderas, 40, was diabetic. The wound grew worse.

"It started to make bubbles around the ankle," Banderas said in an interview. "It was an orange color, and the pain was real bad. They gave medicine for the pain. I couldn't walk."

Shack responded to the charges with disbelief. "I have 173 pages of records showing that he was properly monitored," he said. Banderas was placed in an infirmary at the prison in San Diego, run by Corrections Corp. of America, where doctors and nurses work around the clock, he said.

"He was not among the general population. He was receiving 24-hour care," Shack said.

But the issue, said Conal Doyle, the lawyer for Castaneda and Banderas, was whether the leg had developed gangrene and whether a culture was needed to detect it.

"These are some of the worst cases I have seen," he said.