LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The state of Michigan and a health care company have agreed to pay $1.25 million to settle a lawsuit over the care of a mentally ill prison inmate.
Darlene Martin died in 2017, more than a year after she was released from the Huron Valley women’s prison.
Lawyers for Martin’s family say she was denied food and water at times and forced to sit in her own excrement while in segregation for 10 days in 2014. Water to her cell was cut off.
The Detroit Free Press reports that the Corrections Department will pay $550,000 and Corizon Health will pay $700,000. Corizon provides health care to prison inmates. A federal judge approved the settlement last week.
The family’s lawyers will get $475,000 in fees and expenses from the $1.25 million.
