Shaheen Mackey is seen in his hopsital bed in 2018. Mackey died two years ago after being lodged at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility. During a virtual meeting Tuesday, Luzerne County Council approved a $3 million settlement to end litigation with Mackey’s estate.
Times Leader file photo
Shaheen Mackey died in hospital after being transported from prison
During a virtual meeting Tuesday, Luzerne County Council approved a $3 million settlement to end litigation with the estate of deceased county prison inmate Shaheen Mackey.
Most of the cost would be covered by the county’s insurance, officials said. The county’s only payment would be a $50,000 insurance deductible, and about $7,000 has been paid toward that amount to date.
Council has discussed the settlement in two closed-door executive sessions, including one before Tuesday’s meeting.
All 10 council members in attendance approved the settlement, with Councilman Harry Haas absent.
Before that vote, Councilman Walter Griffith unsuccessfully attempted to make an amendment removing county Manager C. David Pedri and terminating Correctional Services Division Head Mark Rockovich as part of the package.
Griffith and Stephen J. Urban were the lone votes supporting this amendment.
Griffith started to read a statement indicating why he was pushing for the personnel actions, saying the resolution was “very concerning” and referring to a video that had been shown to council in executive session.
Chief Solicitor Romilda Crocamo cut off Griffith, saying the litigation was still ongoing without an approved and executed settlement, preventing public discussion of matters disclosed in executive session.
Griffith agreed to stop reading his statement but said his amendment was warranted to “add accountability to the settlement.”
June 6 was the two-year anniversary of the day Mackey, 41, of Berwick, was transported from the prison to the Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, where he died two days later. He had been lodged at the prison in Wilkes-Barre about five hours on a warrant related to a protection-from-abuse petition, officials have said.
The family’s suit against the county, numerous prison employees and the prison inmate health care provider is still in the discovery stage in federal court, attorneys said.
According to prior published reports, the suit asserts Mackey was epileptic and suffering from a seizure when he wandered, disoriented, into the wrong cell during a prison lockdown. The prison did not properly document his medical issues, it said.
Mackey allegedly began acting delusional, which prompted correctional officers to restrain him, use stun guns on him, shackle him and administer Narcan, though later blood tests allegedly revealed Mackey was on no drugs at the time of his death, reports said.
The suit argued the county should have treated the situation as a medical emergency instead of with “physical force.”
However, the county District Attorney’s Office concluded in its own internal investigation there were no “criminal acts or wrongdoing by any of the officers involved.”
An autopsy concluded Mackey suffered from severe coronary artery disease and that the “sudden, lengthy and violent outburst and subsequent episode led to heart failure,” prompting a ruling that the manner of death was natural causes, the office said.
Mackey’s family has been posting about the case on social media, asserting the prison “murdered” him.
The family had announced plans to release a video showing what happened inside the prison on the anniversary of his death, but a lawyer representing the family said the video release plan was halted due to the pending litigation.
Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.
