(KRON) — Santa Rita Jail’s inmate healthcare provider agreed to pay $2.5 million to the children of Maurice Monk, attorneys announced Thursday. The inmate was allegedly deceased inside his jail cell for three days before any sheriff’s deputies or health workers noticed in November of 2021.
The 45-year-old inmate’s worsening mental and physical condition went ignored as he lay face‑down on his bunk. Wellpath nurses continued tossing paper cups with medications into the cell, despite all of Monk’s meals and medications remaining untouched, attorneys said.
When five Alameda County Sheriff’s deputies finally unlocked and entered the cell, one asked, “Monk, how ya doing buddy?” body camera video shows. “Monk, Monk, Monk. Are you alright?” the deputy asks the lifeless inmate.
They dragged the body off of his bunk and called for a nurse before Monk was pronounced deceased…