CHICAGO/PANAJI: Lyvita Gomes, 52, who was being held at a Chicago jail for
allegedly failing to show up for jury duty, died in custody after a 15-day
hunger strike. The former airline trainer for Delta Airlines, died in Lake
County Jail on January 3, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Funeral arrangements for Gomes, a native of Goa, were earlier delayed until her
relatives arrived from the UK, Alfredo Miranda, owner of Miranda Funeral
Services, was quoted as saying.
Speaking to STOI on Saturday, Gomes' brother Oydsteven said, "I haven't been
able to come to terms with the fact that my sister is no more. All I can tell
you right now is that the funeral will take place on February 1 in Illinois."
Gomes was held after she ignored a jury summons last summer. As a non-citizen,
she was not even eligible to serve on a jury, but ignoring the summons started
a chain of events that brought her to the Lake County jail in December 2011.
She was charged with resisting arrest in October 2011 after a deputy showed up
at her door as ordered by a judge so that she could explain her absence.
Federal immigration officials said Gomes got a US visa in 2004, and her friends
said she moved to Atlanta to work at Delta headquarters.
Gomes, who lived in a Vernon Hills Hotel for the last two years, did not show
up for two more court hearings, and once again a judge ordered her arrest. On
December 14, 2011, Vernon Hills' police brought her to the County Jail.
After medical staff determined on December 29 that Gomes' life was in danger,
she was transferred to Waukegan's Vista Medical Center East, where she died
five days later.
Representatives of Lake County United, a coalition of religious institutions
that works on social justice issues, are questioning Gomes' treatment. In
consultation with Oydsteven, they have sought information about everything from
her medical care to the rationale behind her jury duty arrest, the paper said.
Gomes grew up in Mumbai, and her brother described her as optimistic, helpful
and high-achieving. She took a job as a PanAm flight attendant in 1986.
Oydsteven wrote in an email: "I do not know if this is a failure of the prison
system or a careless culture and attitude towards individuals whatever their
circumstance. I do not wish (the inquiry) to be a matter of reprisals but more
a matter of learning the truth so that attitudes can change."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Protect Goa's natural beauty
Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve
Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
