By The Vanguard Staff
OAKLAND, CA – The children of Maurice Monk – who was left for dead in the Alameda County Santa Rita Jail – will receive a $7 million settlement from the county, according to the family lawyers this week.
Civil rights lawyer Adanté Pointer, who represents Monk’s family, charged a “chilling disregard for human life led to the 2021 death of the 45-year-old,” discovered dead in his cell Nov. 15, 2021.
The county public defender’s office said Monk was arrested in June 2021 after an argument with a bus driver for not wearing a mask, adding he was jailed when he missed a court date because he was turned away at the door, and was unable to pay $2,500 cash bail to keep him out of jail.
“This settlement is a crucial step towards justice for Maurice Monk’s children, acknowledging the systemic failures that led to his death,” Pointer said. “While this brings a measure of accountability, our fight continues against Wellpath, whose willful neglect of their basic duties cannot be overlooked. We won’t rest until all responsible parties are held accountable for Mr. Monk’s inhumane treatment and preventable death.”
According to Pointer, in addition to the settlement, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office is also required to change the way it monitors and responds to prisoners’ well-being during observation checks.
The settlement notes corrections deputies will now be trained “to assess for emergent issues related to the physical and mental health of incarcerated persons, including deterioration in quality of life (e.g., living conditions, lack of cleanliness, refusal of food/beverages, and deficiencies with medication compliance).”
Pointer said the family’s federal civil rights lawsuit will “proceed against at least nine nurses and a physician’s assistant from Nashville, Tenn.-based Wellpath Community Care, who never intervened as they watched Monk deteriorate while in their care yet did nothing to help him.”
“A trove of jail deputies’ bodycam videos released in October, nearly two years after a civil rights lawsuit was filed in Monk’s death, show him lying face-down on his bunk, half naked, above a growing pool of urine and bodily fluids,” according to a statement produced by the family attorneys.
Pointer said Monk was in this position for several days as various deputies, standing at his cell door, dismissed his behavior as “Monk being Monk,” claimed the fluid was spilled milk, or that they saw him move.
The videos showed dozens of untouched meals, as well as paper cups of medications tossed into his cell by nurses from Wellpath, which provides medical services to Alameda County jails under a $250 million contract
“Some jail deputies forged their wellness check timelines and failed to identify obvious signs of Monk’s medical distress, according to an ACSO internal investigation. Monk had diabetes and schizoaffective disorder. Both conditions were medically controlled until he was locked up,” Pointer said.
Sixty-eight men have died at Santa Rita Jail since 2014, including 11 since Monk died, making Santa Rita Jail one of the deadliest jails in the U.S., according to justice reform advocates. The jail is operating under federal oversight focusing on the high death rate among inmates.
Every time a California county pays out a settlement as a result of a jail death, the salaries of the person in charge of the jail as well as the County Sheriff should really be garnished indefinitely to help reimburse the County for the settlement cost. There has to be some measure of accountability for the people in charge of these jails. Otherwise these deaths will never end.