Arkansas county to pay $3 million in 2021 inmate death in prison

FORT SMITH, Ark. (AP) — A western Arkansas county has approved a $3 million settlement with the family of a man who died of dehydration and malnutrition while incarcerated in a local jail.

The Sebastian County Quorum Court voted unanimously and without discussion Tuesday to settle the lawsuit filed in the 2021 death of Larry Eugene Price Jr. at the county jail, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.

An attorney for the county did not immediately respond to an email late Wednesday afternoon from The Associated Press. A lawyer for the Price family declined to comment.

Price died after being held for just over a year at the facility, awaiting trial on a terroristic threat charge. Price, 51, who had a history of serious mental illness, had been held in isolation at the county facility, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit filed last year against Sebastian County accused the jail and its medical provider of neglecting Price as he ate and drank less over the course of a year and his weight dropped from 185 pounds (84 kilograms ) at 90 pounds (41 kilograms). The lawsuit accused the prison and his medical provider of violating Price’s constitutional rights.

In June, the parties requested that the case be sent to a settlement conference.

An attorney for the provider, Oklahoma-based Turn Key Health Clinics, told the AP that it had also entered into a settlement but could not comment until the terms were finalized.

Jail staff discontinued Price’s mental health medication after he refused to take it, according to the lawsuit, and made no effort to follow up with the inmate to address his mental health needs.

According to the lawsuit, inspections of the jail over the years have identified problems such as overcrowding, understaffing and inadequate space at the county facility.

Price was arrested in August 2020 after she walked into the Fort Smith Police Department and threatened officers while pointing her finger as if she had pulled an imaginary trigger, the lawsuit states. Price, who also had a developmental disability, was homeless at the time of his arrest.

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