We now know the terms of a multi-million dollar compensation his family will get from the county and the medical provider that served the jail nearly five years ago.
Beltrami County and MEnD Correctional Care have agreed to pay $2.6 million to the family of a 27-year-old man who died at the jail in 2018.
The individual looked to be in good health and spirits when he arrived at the Bemidji prison in August 2018. However, his condition rapidly deteriorated, and he died less than a week after arriving. The Ramsey Medical Examiner declared that he died of pneumonia, but his mother had her legal team do their own testing, which revealed that he had Guillain-Barre Syndrome.
According to the Mayo Clinic, it is an uncommon condition in which the body's immune system assaults the nerves, eventually paralyzing the sufferer.
Most of the deceased's agony was recorded on surveillance cameras inside the jail. Employees apparently suspected he was faking his sickness at the time. His mother then launched a federal civil rights case against those responsible for her son's care in 2019, resulting in the settlement reached last year.
The man's mother noted in a statement sent through an attorney that the quest for justice is "far from over".
