Jail Nurse Denies Performing Exorcism On Inmate Who Later Died

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK — An inmate at the county jail died after a nurse tried to perform an exorcism instead of treating her for seizure, and now the nurse is facing possible criminal charges, according to media reports. The inmate died a day after the reported exorcism attempt in February, authorities said this week.

The nurse, Linda Herlong Jackson, 67, of Oklahoma City, worked at the Oklahoma County Jail under contract with Armor Correctional Health Services. The company, which had employed Jackson since 2011, said she was no longer employed.

Jackson has denied that she tried to perform an exorcism, an ancient ritual performed by specially trained Catholic priests to cast out Satan and his demons from the souls of those thought to be possessed.

However, detention officers who witnessed the incident told investigators that as the inmate — Amanda Lynette Freeman, 32, of Allen, Oklahoma — thrashed and screamed during a seizure, Jackson asked if anyone minded if she performed a exorcism.

“I revoke you demons,” Jackson reportedly said, according to an account by The Oklahoman. A sheriff’s lieutenant stopped the exorcism, the newspaper said.

Jackson was banned for working at the jail last month by Oklahoma County Sheriff P.D. Taylor.

“Her job is to provide medical care,” he said. “Doing what she was doing was not providing medical care.”

In an interview with The Oklahoman, Jackson dismissed reports that she had performed an exorcism, but described her nursing work as “a form of serving God.” She also said that she had been set up by her boss, who wanted to get rid of her.

The exorcism investigation was turned over to Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater this week, KOKO-TV reported. As of Wednesday, Prater’s office hadn’t decided whether to charge Jackson for delaying treatment to Freeman.

Freeman had been held at the jail since early February on a methamphetamine charge, according to the reports. She began having seizures around 5 a.m. on Feb. 10, and Jackson told investigators with the Oklahoma Bureau of Criminal Investigation that she tried to take Freeman’s vitals, but had trouble getting close because she was thrashing. Jackson described Freeman as having supernatural strength, according to reports.

Corrections officers were eventually able to restrain Freeman and move her to a medical facility at the jail. She was found unresponsive in her cell the following morning. An autopsy showed that Freeman died of an acute coronary event due to methamphetamine use.

Exorcisms are apparently on the rise in the United States, so much so that demand for exorcisms far outpaces the number of priests available to perform them, the National Catholic Register reported.

“The problem isn’t that the devil has upped his game, but more people are willing to play it,” the Rev. Vincent Lampert, an exorcist for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis since 2005, told the Register last year.

“Where there is demonic activity, there is always an entry point,” he said, pointing to societal issues like pornography, illegal drug use and interest in the occult. However, he said actual demonic possessions are rare and he has seen only three possessions in the last three years.

Monsignor Patrick Brankin, an exorcist for the Diocese of Tulsa, Oklahoma, told KRMG-TV in 2014 that the interest in exorcism has increased as people examine problems from a spiritual rather than clinical point of view. “For a long time,” he said, “we spoke of health, rather than holiness.”

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