CRANSTON, R.I. (WPRI) — Leigh Jones remembers the last time she spoke with her son Willie Washington Jr.

“We spoke on the phone for a minute and 46 seconds,” Jones said. “I didn’t even know he was sick.”

Jones said three days later, her son was dead.

Washington had been serving a five-year sentence for drug trafficking at the ACI when he was found unresponsive back in February. He was rushed to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Jones believes the ACI didn’t take her son’s flu-like symptoms seriously. She claims he visited the nurse three times prior to his death and was given Ibuprofen.

“It’s neglect,” Jones said, adding that her son was a “perfectly healthy” 25-year-old.

“He pleaded for his life for three days,” Washington’s godmother Marissa Lee added. “There’s no way you can justify that.”

Washington never had the chance to speak with a doctor in the days leading up to his death, according to his family.

“In three days, a doctor could’ve figured it out,” Lee said. “But the doctor knew nothing about this. The doctor wasn’t informed until my godson expired.”

Washington is one of four inmates who have died at the ACI since February.

Felicia Tannenbaum was at her granddaughter’s 16th birthday party when she learned her brother, William Page, had collapsed while working out at the gym.

Page, 48, had been suffering from chest pains and visited the nurse twice prior to his death, according to Tannenbaum. She said the nurse gave her brother Tylenol and sent him back to his cell.

“If he was complaining about chest pains, who are you to say he just needs Tylenol?” she questioned. “He needed to go get checked out.”

The families of Washington and Page would like to see the state open an investigation into their loved ones’ deaths.

“This is a problem,” Jones said. “This isn’t something to just [sweep] under the rug.”

In a statement to 12 News, R.I. Department of Corrections (RIDOC) spokesperson J.R. Ventura noted that ACI’s medical staff acted immediately and performed life-saving measures on the inmates until first responders arrived.

“RIDOC’s Investigative Unit and/or the Rhode Island State Police always launch an investigation whenever there is a death in custody as a matter of standard operating procedure,” Ventura said, noting that R.I. State Police is an entity that operates independently from RIDOC.

The inmates’ families said they will be bringing their concerns to a meeting with ACI administrators on Friday.

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