FJI Achieves $500,000 Settlement for Parents of Incarcerated Woman Who Committed Suicide

FJI sued the FDOC, as well as two private health care companies, for negligence and deliberate indifference to serious medical need, after Aleshia Napier committed suicide while incarcerated at Broward Correctional Institution.  She was 18 years old.  Despite suffering from serious mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder and having attempted suicide in the past, FDOC medical staff inexplicably discharged her from inpatient mental health care into a solitary confinement cell.  She hanged herself several days later.  The case was settled for $500,000.  The settlement is little comfort to Aleshia’s parents, but hopefully in the future the FDOC will pay closer attention to the mental health treatment being received by inmates with mental illnesses, to prevent tragedies like this from happening in the future.