Settlement reached after Santa Rita Jail inmate Maurice Monk left dead in cell
(KRON) — Santa Rita Jail's inmate healthcare provider agreed to pay $2.5 million to the children of Maurice Monk, attorneys announced Thursday. The inmate was allegedly deceased inside his jail cell for three days before any sheriff's deputies or health workers noticed in November of 2021.
The 45-year-old inmate's worsening mental and physical condition went ignored as he lay face‑down on his bunk. Wellpath nurses continued tossing paper cups with medications into the cell, despite all of Monk's meals and medications remaining untouched, attorneys said.
When five Alameda County Sheriff's deputies finally unlocked and entered the cell, one asked, 'Monk, how ya doing buddy?' body camera video shows. 'Monk, Monk, Monk. Are you alright?' the deputy asks the lifeless inmate.
They dragged the body off of his bunk and called for a nurse before Monk was pronounced deceased.
The Alameda County jail's healthcare provider, Wellpath, is resolving a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Monk's family by paying the $2.5 million settlement, attorneys said. 'This is an admission by the people who are paid millions of taxpayer dollars that they failed to protect and ensure the health and well-being of a man whose life was entirely in their hands,' said civil rights attorney Adanté Pointer, of Oakland-based Pointer & Buelna, Lawyers For The People.
In 2023, Alameda County agreed to a $7 million settlement for deputies' roles in Monk's death.
In 2021, Monk was arrested for refusing to wear a mask and arguing on a public AC Transit bus during the COVID pandemic. He was booked into jail because he had a warrant for missing a court date, and he couldn't afford to post $2,500 bail. The inmate required medications for diabetes and schizoaffective disorder.
Bodycam videos recorded by sheriff's deputies were released after the federal civil rights lawsuit was filed. Deputies who stood at Monk's cell door initially dismissed his unresponsive behavior as 'Monk being Monk,' attorneys said.
Monk's family sued several Wellpath nurses and a physician's assistant who never intervened to help him. Wellpath is a private prison health care company with a troubling track record. Attorneys said 68 men have died in Santa Rita Jail custody since 2014, making it one of the deadliest jails in the country.
'Maurice Monk's children will receive some justice for the needless death of their father,' said civil rights attorney Ty Clarke, also of Pointer & Buelna. 'There is simply no excuse for any medical professionals, no matter the setting, to neglect their primary duties.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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