Lamont Mealy
Lamont Mealy, a 52-year-old man, died of dehydration on July 5, 2023, at Western Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland, where he was held in an isolation cell. His sister, LaShawn Tyler, and the family's attorneys say staff shut off the water to his cell, ignored his pleas for water and delayed medical care for about eight days before he died, and a lawsuit makes the same allegations. The medical examiner ruled the cause dehydration and the manner an accident, and the state's internal investigation found no definitive evidence that staff contributed to the death, according to the corrections department. The family's attorneys say the department failed to provide requested records, and the state has agreed to pay more than $300,000 to settle related suits.
Cause of death, as reported: Died from neglect by staff (disputed). The medical examiner ruled the death dehydration and the manner an accident, while his family's lawsuit says officers shut off the water to his cell, ignored his pleas for water and skipped required welfare checks.
Reported by: Maryland medical examiner's office (medical examiner or coroner); Western Correctional Institution prison officials, who first told the family he died of natural causes (the agency that held him); the family's lawsuit and attorney Cary Hansel (family or their lawyers).
Lawsuit: His family's attorneys sued after the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services allegedly failed to provide documents about his death, and the state agreed to pay more than $300,000 to settle those suits.
News reports (6)
- How a Maryland prisoner died an ‘excruciating’ death from dehydration
- He Died of Thirst in Solitary Confinement. Now His Family Is Suing for Answers.
- Maryland public safety chief faults agency after inmate death, calls for probe
- Attorneys file wrongful death lawsuit in dehydration death of prison inmate
- Judge rebukes state public safety agency for failing to provide documents in prison death
- Maryland to pay $314,000 after corrections agency withheld records in prisoner’s dehydration death