By Dee DeQuattro, WPRO News
A nearly $5 million settlement has been reached in a wrongful-death lawsuit against the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and five other defendants for the death of an inmate in 2008.
The inmate was 34-year-old Hui Lui “Jason” Ng. Ng was an undocumented immigrant from China and was being held at the Wyatt on a deportation order.
The lawsuit alleged that Ng was brutalized while in prison and denied proper medical care for liver cancer and a fractured spine. He died from advanced liver cancer while detained in 2008. Ng had been incarcerated for months however his cancer was not diagnosed until days before he died.
“We think the settlement is a fair and reasonable one. It is a substantial amount of money that we think at least in some way compensate his wife and two small children for the life of their father,” said Steven Brown of the RI ACLU, the group who brought the suit on behalf of Ng’s family.
Brown said he hopes this case encourages other facilities to ensure inmates get the proper medical treatment they deserve. “I think it is important that everyone realize when the government detains an individual they have an obligation to ensure they get adequate medical care. In this instance we alleged that Mr. Ng was really left for over a month to deal with very serious medical conditions and virtually no care was provided to him,” said Brown.
The U.S. District Court approved the settlement Thursday. The prison is expected to pay the bulk of the settlement.
