CORYELL COUNTY, Texas — A long legal battle has culminated in a settlement between Coryell County officials and the family of Kelli Leanne Page, an inmate who died while in custody at the Coryell County jail in 2017.
The resolution underscores the challenges surrounding inmate welfare and the pursuit of justice within the correctional system.
Page, 46, was detained by authorities and held at the Coryell County jail, where her pre-existing health concerns and obesity were known to the facility staff.
It is standard practice--as outlined in the county's written policies--that an extraction team comprised of at least five jailers should be involved in removing people from their cells.
However, on Oct. 8, 2017, only two jailers entered Page's cell in a bid to place her in a restraint chair. Video footage captured the events leading up to the incident, revealing that Page had been attempting to communicate with the jailers and showing no signs of aggression towards them.
Despite this, she was pepper sprayed and tackled to the floor by the jailers. Tragically, she lost her life during the incident.
An autopsy conducted by the Office of the Medical Examiner at the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences in Dallas revealed that Page had died from mechanical asphyxia linked to her being physically restrained, and was made worse by her other medical conditions.
In response to the incident, constitutional rights attorney Dean Malone filed a lawsuit on behalf of Page's family in federal court in Waco on Jan. 30, 2019. On July 14, 2022, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans overturned the prior judgment, leading to the case's return to the trial court for further proceedings.
Before the trial was set to begin, Coryell County, reached an $800,000 settlement with a representative of Page's family.
After the settlement had been reached, Malone said in a statement, "In my opinion, Coryell County knew, the day the lawsuit was filed, that it should settle claims arising out of Kelli's death."
He also emphasized the need for reforms in legal procedures concerning cases of negligence and abuse in correctional facilities, like the one surrounding Page and her wrongful death in the Coryell County jail.
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