Jury awards $6.4 million verdict in the death of an inmate in a private prison healthcare system
A private prison healthcare system in Michigan was found liable for the death of an inmate who was being held on minor theft charges.
In a federal trial in U.S. District Court in Lansing, Mich., a six-person found jury found three employees of Brentwood, Tenn.-based Corizon Health neglected to provide care for Wade Jones, an inmate at the Kent County Correctional Facility in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Mr. Jones entered the facility for a five-day sentence in April 2018 for third-class retail fraud, which in Michigan is theft of less than $100. The lawsuit asserted Jones died from grossly mismanaged serious alcohol withdrawal syndrome due to the deliberate indifference of the healthcare company’s employees in violation of his federal rights under the United States Constitution.
“Delirium tremens is a known, fatal and preventable complication of alcohol withdrawal. No one should die from alcohol withdrawal syndrome if properly managed. Mr. Jones was at the mercy of the Corizon medical staff. He could not leave. He could not go to an emergency department on his own,” plaintiff attorney Jennifer Damico of the Buckfire Law firm said. “The Defendants had numerous chances to save his life. They made conscious and repeated decisions to not act — and the Jury found their conduct to rise to the level of deliberate indifference.”
Corizon provides healthcare to approximately 28 clients in 15 states, including 139 state prisons, municipal jails, and other facilities. The award included $3 million for Mr. Jones’ pain and suffering damages prior to his death, the sum of $400,000 for his family’s past loss of society and companionship, and $3 million for the future loss of companionship suffered by his family.
