Judge Says She Must be Allowed to Visit Her Critically ill Daughter. Cops Say No!

Lucy Moss’ worst fear always was that her heroin-addicted daughter would die alone.

When she found out her daughter, who had spent three months in jail on drug possession charges, was “on life support” in a Broward County hospital, she rushed to Fort Lauderdale on a flight her relatives paid for. She hitched rides from strangers to make it to her daughter’s bedside. And she secured an emergency hearing Sunday in front of a judge after police limited her to two short visits.

But neither her entreaties nor a judge’s order could sway the Broward Sheriff’s Office. Separated by Intensive Care Unit walls — and BSO policy — from her daughter, Moss still fears Carare will die alone.

“This is a nightmare,” Moss, 48, said Sunday afternoon. “All I want to do is see my daughter.”

Moss was awakened from her sleep Wednesday night when a Cleveland police officer pounded on her door. Her daughter, Kristin Carare, whose heroin addiction had sent her to the Broward County Jail three months earlier, was in intensive care. When Moss saw her petite, 26-year-old daughter at Broward North Medical Center — shackled to her hospital bed and tethered to a ventilator — she froze at the door. Carare’s normally 111-pound body was bloated like a balloon, and cocooned in hospital wires.

“I was scared. I was shaking. I’m scared to death.”

During a visit by her mom the next day, Carare briefly opened her eyes, which were yellowed with jaundice. “I told her, ‘Baby, I’m here. I’m here.’ I’m crying, and I’m holding her hand. Her eyes closed, and tears started flowing down.”

But the Sheriff’s Office then told her there would be no more visits, she said.

Keyla Concepcion, a BSO spokeswoman, said Sunday that Carare’s lawyers are “aware of the security restrictions” in place when inmates are hospitalized. “Despite the inmate’s condition, she is in BSO custody. Her hospital room is a non-secure extension of the jail where enhanced security measures, which include restrictions on visitations, must be followed,” Concepcion said in a written statement.

“BSO was not notified of the court hearing on the matter or given the opportunity to present our position to the judge before the order was obtained,” she added.