Santa Rita Jail health care provider Wellpath to pay $2.5 million over 2021 death of Maurice Monk

DUBLIN Santa Rita Jail s embattled wellness care provider is expected to pay at least million for its role in the death of Maurice Monk an inmate who laid motionless in his cell for days before anyone checked him for a pulse Wellpath s settlement communicated Thursday by the attorneys for Monk s children follows a separate million payout by Alameda County nearly two year ago which also called for a series of reforms over how staff checks on inmates at the jail The latest settlement includes about million for Monk s -year-old daughter along with for his -year-old son On Thursday an attorney for Monk s family declared the accord came after a protracted fight with the clinical provider which just now emerged from bankruptcy after facing around lawsuits over its performance at jails across the country While Alameda County moved more speedily to settle Wellpath engaged in a corporate shell challenge commented the attorney Adante Pointer Wellpath took a different path and I think that s indicative of the way they do business Pointer announced They buried their head in the sand and forced the family to fight That says a lot about the values of Wellpath and that certainly trickles down to the people who are delivering the care or not delivering the care as expected For his children they ll never be able to hug their dad or text or call hm or watch a movie with him Pointer added But they now have a much more secure financial base to go forward with their lives and achieve the goals they had shared with their dad while he was here Wellpath representatives did not this instant respond to a request for comment about the settlement The deal comes as Wellpath seeks to renew its five-year million contract to provide fitness care at the jail which has been a frequent target of lawsuits alleging staff negligence and abuse The jail at this time operates under a federal consent decree which began after the death of another inmate after dozens of inmates have died at the jail over the last decade Numerous locality groups have pleaded with the Alameda Board of Supervisors to part avenues with the curative provider Multiple audits including one presented to the supervisors last month exposed the company has continuously fallen short of the - compliance rate needed for a satisfactory rating Often the company s staff doesn t complete documentation of person care or properly manage inmates chronic conditions the audits have identified There also exists an urgent need for retraining staff on a host of issues including how to restrain inmates It s very well documented by way of our lawsuit as well as the audit that was in the last few days published that Wellpath is underperforming undeserving yet overcharging the taxpayers of Alameda County for substandard clinical amenity Pointer commented It also comes as people nine current or former Alameda County sheriff s deputies one Wellpath clinician and an Alameda County Behavioral Soundness specialist face criminal charges in Monk s death Monk was pronounced dead on Nov after his body laid face-down in his cell for days as a brown ooze seeped from beneath him Safety and deputy body-worn camera footage established jailers repeatedly dropping pills and dinner plates into Monk s cell while he laid motionless without bothering to check if he was OK At one point another inmate who was helping deputies distribute food allegedly appealed Are we just waiting for him to kick the bucket Monk likely died long before deputies checked for his pulse according to the lawsuit When they in the end dragged Monk s stiff body out of the cell the lettering on his jail garb was imprinted on the stained mattress the lawsuit claimed At the time Monk had been facing a misdemeanor charge of threatening a bus driver who questioned him to wear a mask on a bus during the COVID- pandemic He had been held on bail The settlement highlights the need for Alameda County s leaders to take healthcare care at the jail and the contractor providing that utility more seriously Pointer stated When they re exposed for not doing their work the county ends up with blood on its hands and money out of its pocket because they have not supervised this contractor close enough Pointer announced Jakob Rodgers is a senior current news reporter Call text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at - - or email him at jrodgers bayareanewsgroup com