South Carolina pays $1.2 million in lawsuit over mentally ill inmate who died

From this Report from channel WLXT 19

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The state has paid $1.2 million to the estate of an inmate with mental retardation who died in 2008 after being kept naked for 11 days in solitary confinement and developing hypothermia.

Records from the state Insurance Reserve Fund also show the state paid an additional $199,000 to its private lawyers in the case, which was cited last year by former state Circuit Judge Michael Baxley in his landmark, 45-page order finding the state Department of Corrections had violated the rights of inmates with severe mental illness.

The estate of Jerome Laudman sued individual officers in the case in federal court and filed suit against the prison system in state court. Both cases were settled last year, records show, with the federal suit being dismissed and the state agreeing to pay $1.2 million in the state case.

"We settled the case for 1.2 million," Corrections Director Bryan Stirling said. "Corrections continues to make significant changes and improvements for the safety and security of officers and staff, inmates and the community."

Sen. Mike Fair of Greenville, chairman of the Senate Corrections and Penology Committee, said of the settlement that "$1.2 million doesn't bring this man back to life. ... (But) hopefully the family can have closure on that."

Scott Evans, a lawyer for the Laudman estate, said the family of Laudman feels the settlement was a fair one. He said the maximum amount that can be paid in a state medical negligence claim in South Carolina is $1.2 million. He said $600,000 is the limit for a wrongful death claim and $300,000 for other types of claims.

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When an investigator looked at the videotape of the transfer of Laudman, he noted that it contained only a few minutes of footage before it went blank, according to the internal report.

The cell was bare, with a concrete pad for sleeping and no blanket, according to the suit. The lawsuit alleges that the entire area was cold and there were problems with the heating system.

Laudman was stripped of all "basic necessities," according to the lawsuit, including mattress, sheets, socks, shoes, underwear and uniform." He also wasn't provided access to his medication while in the Supermax cell, according to the suit.

Four days after Laudman was placed in his new cell, an officer noticed that he was sitting and stooped over "like he was real weak or sick," according to the internal investigative report.

The officer also noted that food trays were piled up near the door, Laudman was naked and the room was bare. The officer didn't report what he saw, according to the report, because when he brought up issues in the past he was told to "leave it alone."

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