County left to pay $1M lawsuit settlement after Armor Correctional liquidates assets
Milwaukee County could be left with an unexpected dent in its coffers after jail medical provider, Armor Correctional, turned its assets over for liquidation.
The Miami-based company previously provided medical services at the Milwaukee County Jail and has been at the center of high-profile in-custody death and medical negligence lawsuits, including the 2016 death of Terrill Thomas, who died of dehydration after guards shut off water in segregation at the Milwaukee County Jail.
First reported by Jacksonville-based The Tributary, the Miami-based company also has $153 million in unsecured debt, which also includes money owed in lawsuit settlements.
In October, the Journal Sentinel reported that Milwaukee County and Wisconsin County Mutual Insurance Company ultimately had to pay the $1.05 million settlement after the Milwaukee County Jail staff failed to give Omar Wesley schizophrenia medication 65 days over a six-month period.
Despite the requirements in its contract with the county that would require Armor Correctional to defend and indemnify the county, the company stated it did not have the "financial ability to fund a settlement to resolve this case or pay for any eventual judgment."
Milwaukee County Corporation Counsel Margaret Daun told the Journal Sentinel she and her office are pursuing legal remedies and anticipates it will file a lawsuit in early 2024 "to hold Armor accountable for not only their disastrously inadequate care and criminally deficient record keeping, but also for their corporate mismanagement and misrepresentations."
Daun added: "Armor is unquestionably a bad faith actor that has already been credibly accused of fraud by the state of New York. We will stop at nothing to seek justice from Armor and its owner, Jose Armas."
Armor Correctional has been at the center of litigation and investigations across the country since the company's founding in 2004.
As of June, Armor Correctional has been sued in federal court roughly 570 times, including for medical negligence, inappropriate medical and mental care, over the last two decades, according to reporting by The Tributary, federal court records and the company’s log.
In October of last year, Armor Correctional, was found criminally guilty for the death of Terrill Thomas, who died of dehydration after guards shut off water in segregation at the Milwaukee County Jail.
Contact Vanessa Swales at 414-308-5881 or vswales@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Vanessa_Swales.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee may pay $1M settlement for debt-ridden Armor Correctional
