An inmate at a Louisiana prison was choked by a sheriff's deputy and appeared to lose consciousness. The inmate says it was retaliation for repeatedly requesting medical assistance for symptoms commonly associated with the novel coronavirus. Bradford Skinner, an inmate in the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, said he began asking for medical care on April 3 for coughing and chest pain. He said an official sent him away with ingredients to make tea, and dismissed him when he asked for care again the next day. Skinner said when he tried to ask a different official for help, the first official threatened him with a riot incitement charge and called in additional deputies. He said that was the last thing he remembered before being choked and restrained by a sheriff's deputy and other prison facility employees.
