The family of Donald Maier, who died due to probable malnutrition and dehydration at Waupun Correctional Institution in 2024, has settled its lawsuit against the Wisconsin Department of Corrections for $3.75 million.
Maier, 62, died on Feb. 22, 2024, one week after prison staff began intermittently shutting off the water to prevent him from flooding his cell while in solitary confinement. His death was ruled a homicide.
“It wasn’t just Don Maier’s death that was a horrific tragedy. It was the last few days of his life, when his grip on reality drained away to the point that he was unable to communicate his needs, and his life became a living hell,” according to a June 4 statement from attorney Jeff Scott Olson, who represented Maier’s family.
“Over the course of those days, dozens of people whose job it was to care for Don Maier walked by his cell and not one of them so much as opened the door to his cell to check on him as he was lying unresponsive on the floor.”
Last year, Maier’s family filed a federal civil rights and wrongful death lawsuit against DOC leadership and prison staff. The lawsuit alleged that DOC staff were “deliberately indifferent” to Maier’s serious medical and mental health needs, violating his right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment when he was left in “inhumane conditions of confinement.”
The complaint also alleged disability discrimination because Maier, who had a documented history of mental health conditions, was denied access to basic services and programs.
Around that time, the FBI also launched its own investigation to Maier’s death.
A spokesperson for the DOC could not immediately be reached for comment.
Maier had history of mental health concerns
Maier first entered Wisconsin’s state prison system in June 2012 and cycled between a mental health treatment facility and a medium-security prison in Racine.
Maier was serving a 15-year prison sentence after a jury found him guilty of stalking the members of a jury from a previous court case.
During his time in custody, Maier was diagnosed with delusional disorder, depression and suicidal ideation, according to the complaint. At one point, he was prescribed anxiety, anti-psychotic and depression medications, according to the complaint.
In early December 2023, Maier was transferred to the long-troubled maximum-security prison, Waupun Correctional Institution, where he was housed in the prison’s behavioral health unit, designed to hold prisoners with mental illnesses.
On Feb. 13, 2024, Maier was found lying on the floor of his cell unresponsive. While being transported by staff to the health care unit, Maier became “alert and resistive, kicking out at the staff,” the complaint alleged.
Maier was not treated by medical or mental health staff over the next two weeks, according to the complaint.
On the morning of Feb. 22, seven prison staffers saw Maier unresponsive and naked, lying on the floor of his cell. None of them entered Maier’s cell to check on him or call for medical staff, the complaint alleged.
At 3:41 p.m., Maier was found dead.
Former warden, correctional staff investigated after prisoner deaths
Waupun Correctional Institution has been the subject scrutiny after a spate of seven prisoner deaths over a period of two years.
Roughly two years ago, nine Waupun prison staff members, including the warden, were arrested and charged with felonies in connection to two in-custody deaths. Seven of those prison workers were charged in relation to Maier’s death.
Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt, whose office carried out investigations into the deaths at Waupun, blasted the prison’s treatment of inmates.
Former Waupun warden Randall Hepp, former lieutenant Brandon Fisher and former correctional officer Sarah Ransbottom were each ultimately convicted of one misdemeanor count of violating the laws of a state institution. They were given no jail time – Hepp and Fisher each received a penalty of $500 and Ransbottom $250.
Former correctional officer Jamall Russell was convicted of three misdemeanors for violating the laws of a state institution. He has yet to be sentenced.
Three others – former correctional sergeants Jeramie Chalker and Alexander Hollfelder, and former prison nurse Jessica Hosfelt – had their cases dismissed.
As the state prison system was under the national spotlight, Waupun also became subject of a federal investigation into an alleged drug and contraband smuggling ring. Early last year, nearly a dozen prison employees had resigned or been fired as a result of the probe.
Current and former correctional staff have blamed long-term staffing shortages, which were exacerbated by Gov. Scott Walker’s Act 10, which decimated collective bargaining rights for most public workers in 2011.
Olson, the attorney for Maier’s family, underscored the need for genuine prison reform, as well as holding the state’s correctional system to account.
“This has hurt both prison inmates and prison employees, and without serious reform at the legislative level to take the pressure off, tragedies like the death of Don Maier will continue to be inevitable,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Waupun prison dehydration death lawsuit settled for $3.75 million
Reporting by Vanessa Swales, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Vanessa Swales, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
