“Denied, Deteriorating, Forgotten”: A Mother’s plea exposes potential medical crisis at Crawford County jail

Austin Rush

In Van Buren, a mother’s desperate cry for help is echoing through inboxes across Crawford County.

Teri Sandusky, whose son Austin Rush is a pre-trial detainee at the Crawford County Detention Center, has sent an urgent email to every Justice of the Peace, state senator, and representative in her district on July 15.

Her message: “My son’s life is at risk--and he’s not the only one.”

Based on the inmate information sheet for Austin Mitchell Rush, the arrest occurred on June 5, 2025.

Rush's, arrest stems from multiple charges, including theft-related offenses and violations of court orders.

The charges against Rush include a Petition to Revoke Bond, Theft of Property, Unlawful Transfer of Stolen Property to a Pawn Shop or Pawnbroker, Failure to Appear, and a Petition to Revoke/Show Cause.

Rush, 30, underwent a craniotomy in January 2024 to remove a rare malignant brain tumor from his occipital lobe. He suffers from epilepsy and debilitating nerve pain, managed by a carefully prescribed regimen of Keppra, Suboxone, and Diazepam.

But as of August 11, 2025, Turn Key Health Clinics LLC--the private medical provider contracted by the jail--has reportedly implemented a new policy that discontinues certain medications, including Diazepam, a benzodiazepine classified as a Schedule IV drug.

Medical literature is clear: sudden cessation of benzodiazepines like Diazepam can trigger withdrawal seizures, including grand mal episodes, coma, and death--even in patients without epilepsy.

Recent seizure incident involving Rush

Rush, who has a documented seizure history and prior ICU admission following a grand mal seizure, has now missed seven consecutive doses.

“This isn’t just negligence,” Sandusky says. “It’s a death sentence.”

Turn Key Health Clinics, based in Oklahoma City, operates in 10 states and has been sued over 160 times since 2015, including at least 30 cases involving inmate deaths.

Investigations by Newsweek and The Marshall Project have documented systemic failures: understaffing, refusal to administer critical medications, and delayed hospital transfers—even for patients in visible crisis.

In Arkansas, Turn Key is also named in a federal lawsuit over the death of Larry Eugene Price Jr., who died emaciated and untreated in Sebastian County Jail in 2021.

Despite these warnings, Turn Key continues to receive contracts across the region, including at Crawford County Detention Center.

⚖️

Rush is not serving a sentence==he is awaiting trial. Yet his mother says he has been denied access to mental health court or drug court, despite a lifelong history of undiagnosed neurological illness and addiction stemming from untreated pain.

“He was failed by the medical system, failed by the justice system, and now he’s being failed by the jail,” Sandusky said.

Rush reportedly told his mother that other inmates have also had medications discontinued, including Gabapentin--a drug commonly used for nerve pain and seizures. Suboxone, which Rush takes for occipital nerve pain, may also be at risk, though no formal list of banned medications has been released.

Turn Key’s website emphasizes “customized health care programs” and “site-specific policy implementation,” but offers no public explanation for its prescription restrictions.

Experts warn that jail medical providers must balance cost containment with constitutional obligations. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that deliberate indifference to serious medical needs violates the Eighth Amendment. Yet private providers often operate with limited oversight and broad immunity from lawsuits.

In Arkansas, Turn Key reportedly cannot prescribe Schedule I–IV drugs, though the legal basis for this restriction remains unclear.

“How many others are suffering in silence?” she asks. “What will the headlines say when someone dies?”