“Deliberate indifference” towards the suffering of an inmate led to his death in the Waupun prison, according to a lawsuit

The Department of Corrections of Wisconsin faces another complaint about a death in the maximum Waupun prison.

In the last week before the U.S. District Court, the prison forces were deliberately contrary to the 62-year-old Donald Maier's physical and psychological needs and therefore undermine him cruel and unusual punishment.

Maier died of dehydration and malnutrition in February 2024, while he was locked up in solitary confinement.

Maier had delusions and depression, and the prison system classified him as someone with serious mental illnesses, according to the federal complaint.

Nevertheless, the suit says that in the nine days before his death nobody entered Maier's cell in order to offer him medical care or a personal assessment.

The complaint in which an unadorned amount of compensation strives is about three dozen people who worked as a defendant at Waupun at the time of Maier's death.

In the lawsuit it was claimed that prison workers ignored signs of need before Maier died and did not manage to complete many of their necessary rounds for checking the prisoners.

At least two workers falsified the records that said they ended rounds when they hadn't done so.

Lawyer Jeff Olson submitted the lawsuit on behalf of Maier's mother Jeannette. He says she is looking for an accountability.

“We hope that next time someone like Donald Maier lies on the floor of his cell, does not move and a prison officer comes by his cell, who not only continues the prison officer, but does something,” said Olson.

A spokesman for the corrections refused to comment on allegations in the lawsuit, citing its ongoing nature.

Lament: The staff could not follow the rules for the barrier of water before Maier died of dehydration

Six days before his death, Maier flooded his cell and asked the prison workers to switch off his water.

According to the lawsuit, however, the employees were not always set up to the political requirements for water degrees, including the documentation of the degrees and the notification of higher degrees that have occurred.

This led to a loss of communication that had tragic consequences, claims the lawsuit.

In the days before Maier's death, the employees of Maier's water briefly switched on in several places, but they never told him that the water was switched on again, according to the lawsuit.

The employees ignore signs of medical stress and unpredictable behavior, the lawsuit says

In addition, the suit has stated that in the nine days he had spent in solitary confinement before his death, in the lawsuit did not bring any medication for his mental illness or other medical needs.

It is said that Maier's behavior became increasingly unpredictable. He sometimes heard “growling and roaring like an animal” and saw how he reserves as if he were swimming in his cell.

He drank out of the toilet and, according to the lawsuit and a criminal complaint that was submitted in Dodge County last year, repeatedly asked for water.

On the day his water was switched off, Maier told Waupun Dr. Casey Roca that he “water, water, water, the entire water in the world,” says the lawsuit.

“Dr. Roca did not answer this request, but rather redirected the conversation,” the lawsuit said. “She passed this request to the prison physician, but did not do anything to understand why Mr. Maier was so fixed on the need for water or to ensure that Mr. Maier receives water for drinking.”

Although the employees knew that Maier had not eaten for several days, the suit says that the workers could not follow the hunger strike protocol. That would have belonged to check Maier's vital functions and continue to check in his condition every day.

It also means that the prison officer Jamall Russell, one of the accused mentioned in the lawsuit, Maier in his last days in the restrictive residential unit, also known as solitary confinement, did not bring several meals with them.

Unterstisced contributed to death, says lawyer

In an interview with WPR, Olson said that he believes that a solitary confinement will be overlooked in Waupun. And Olson said the lack of human contact must be found in the days before it was found dead in his cell.

Olson also attracted Maier's death to the overcrowding and interruption of the prison. He said overloaded employees were more “abbreviations”.

“This long -term lack of personnel and the overload and resentment of the prison employee created an atmosphere in which the people who worked at the WCI did not seem barbaric for the personnel to ignore the fact that Donald Maier did not eat and no water drinks, and was not able to communicate his needs,” says the lawsuit.

Criminal charges that are still available against some former Waupun employees

Many of the persons referred to as defendants were also charged with criminal law.

The Dodge County public prosecutor charged nine people last August last August who worked in Waupun in connection with the death of Maier and 24-year-old Cameron Williams.

The prosecutors say that Williams died of a stroke when he was imprisoned in Waupun after the workers had ignored signs of medical stress.

Among the accused people was Waupun's former Guardian Randy Hepp, who did not advocate a competition against a reduced offense against the laws of a state institution last week.

Last month, a judge dismissed a crime against Jeramie Chalker, a Waupun Sergeant who had been charged with Maier's death due to misconduct.

After the former Waupun judicial officer Sarah Ann Ransbottom was originally confronted with a crime, she agreed to an offense last year that had violated the laws of a state institution.

Criminal matters against other former Waupun employees are still open.

Lawyers who represented Waupun employees who were charged with Maier's death either refused to make a comment or to answer a request for a comment from WPR.

Despite the calls to close Waupun, the governor's plan would keep the facility open

The latest lawsuit is one of many who have been submitted in the scandal-based Waupun prison for recent deaths.

Legal disputes are still in the death of at least three other inmates who died of causes such as suicide and overdose drugs. In the meantime, the governor of Wisconsin confirmed last year that Federal Officials had initiated an investigation into allegations that Waupun workers transported drugs and other smuggling goods into prison.

For years, supporters and some legislators have called for the Waupun prison, the oldest prison in Wisconsin.

In his latest budget request, however, Governor Tony Evers stated a plan that would keep Waupun open.

After this proposal, Wisconsin would finally close the Green Bay Correctional institution, another worrying facility for maximum security. And if the plane of the governor of Wisconsin is approved, Waupun would be converted into a medium -safe lockup that focuses on vocational training for the people imprisoned there.

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