A lawsuit may unearth answers in the mysterious case of a man who died after being found comatose in a south Alabama prison, where he was incarcerated for killing two Athens police officers in 2004.

The suit, filed Thursday in Montgomery County Circuit Court by an Atlanta human rights group and two Huntsville attorneys, names Mary Barksdale, mother of Farron Barksdale, as one of seven plaintiffs. The Southern Center for Human Rights, joined by Farron Barksdale defense attorney Jake Watson of Huntsville and attorney Herman Watson, seeks to “compel the commissioner of the Alabama Department of Corrections to comply with Alabama’s Open Records Act.”

DOC Commissioner Richard Allen has denied the Barksdale family access to records relating to Farron’s incarceration and death, saying that prison records do not fall under the state’s Open Records Act, the suit states.

“We just don’t know what happened and we need to have access to these records,” said Sara Totonchi, public policy director for SCHR.

Jake Watson said Farron’s family and the public have a right to know how he died.

“They obviously love Farron and they want to know what happened to him,” he said. “They think it’s important not only for them to know, but for the public to know what’s going on behind prison walls. We are taxpayers. We pay for these prisons.”

DOC spokesman Brian Corbett, in an e-mailed statement, said access to records has been denied because state law defines inmate medical records as “privileged information.”

“Allegations that we have refused to cooperate and that no statute prohibits public disclosure of documents are simply not correct,” Corbett wrote. “In fact, there are both federal and state laws that restrict our ability to release certain documents without court order; in effect, we are being sued for following the law.”

Farron Barksdale was found comatose in his cell at Kilby Correctional Facility in Montgomery on Aug. 11 and died 10 days later at age 32 at Baptist Medical Center South. Corbett said Farron had symptoms of a systemic infection — fever and high white blood cell count —upon arriving at the hospital. His body was also bruised but Corbett said there was no evidence of an altercation at the prison. He said bruises could have been self-inflicted or caused by trauma, an accident or the infection.

An autopsy was ordered to determine the cause of death. On Sept. 7, two employees of the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences in Montgomery told a News Courier reporter the autopsy was “closed,” meaning completed, but on Sept. 11, the pathologist who performed the autopsy said that was not true and that the autopsy would not be made public until the report was completed.

The News Courier has mailed its written request and $10 fee required for a copy of the autopsy when it is made public.

The DOC is the only agency investigating the cause of Farron Barksdale’s death at one of its facilities. Spokeswomen for the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department and the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office have said their offices have not been contacted in the investigation.

Sarah Geraghty, an attorney for SCHR, said she has made numerous written requests to the DOC’s legal office, office of public information and to Commissioner Richard Allen, who is the sole defendant in the lawsuit. She said the DOC “maintains that all documents regarding any incident that occurs in prison – including incidents resulting in death or serious injury to inmates – are closed to the public and not subject to the Open Records Act.”  

The DOC statement said: “Inmates’ medical records are protected by federal law, and law enforcement investigative reports, records, and writings are declared privileged communication under Alabama law, specifically Alabama Code Section 12-21-3.1(b). In addition, a 1979 Attorney General ‘s opinion provides that in the absence of a court order, persons or agencies other than criminal justice officials should not receive inmates’ files…. Although we could not release the investigative files as SCHR requested, we provided them summaries of the incident reports in all situations that could be positively identified.”

Corbett said the DOC explained its limitations under the law to SCHR lawyers and expected them to respond and “resolve this matter informally.” News of the lawsuit came as a surprise to Corbett Thursday afternoon when he was asked for comment and said he was unaware it had been filed.