Prison staff mock dying inmate's calls for help in shocking video

Staff members at the Ottawa County Jail in Miami, Oklahoma are shown both mocking and ignoring the calls for help from an inmate who would be found dead in his cell hours later.

Authorities this week released surveillance footage taken from the jail in October 2015, when inmate Terral Ellis Jr. died days after he turned himself in on an outstanding warrant for driving while under the influence.

As CBS News reports, the footage shows a nurse at the jail belittling Ellis after he complained that he was having trouble breathing and needed medical attention.

"I'm sick and tired of f*cking dealing with your ass!" she says in the video. "Ain't a damn thing wrong with you!"

Other employees at the jail can be seen mocking Ellis's pleas as they walk by his cell.

"If you can't breathe, how can you talk?" one employee asked him sarcastically.

Hours after the footage was taken, Ellis was found dead in his cell, where medical staff determined that he had died from sepsis and pneumonia.

Ellis's brother Garrett tells CBS News that he was shocked to see the prison's staff, especially a nurse, constantly belittled his late sibling even as he asked them for help.

"It was inappropriate," he said. "She completely neglected his health."

Watch CBS News' report on the video below.