Alameda County to pay $7 million, reform jail training after settlement with family of Maurice Monk

Details of the county's settlement were announced Wednesday by the family of Maurice Monk, who died in November 2021 at the Santa Rita Jail.

Alameda County will pay $7 million and reform its deputies’ training programs after settling a lawsuit with the family of Maurice Monk, who died in the Santa Rita Jail in 2021 after allegedly languishing for days in his cell without any help from deputies.

Details of the county’s settlement were announced Wednesday by the family of Monk, the 45-year-old Oakland man who died face-down on a mattress in his cell two years ago next to a puddle of urine and uneaten food on the floor. His death on Nov. 15, 2021, became a flashpoint among activists seeking improved conditions in the jail, where scores of people have died over the past decade from drug overdoses, suicides and killings.

Along with the payout, Alameda County agreed to train current deputies and new hires to make “more quality checks” on inmates, said Adante Pointer, the lawyer for Monk’s daughter and son. For example, deputies must now document and personally check on inmates who refuse to eat, take medications or leave their cells within in a certain period of time. Jail supervisors also must personally go into cells to check on inmates if those issues persist.

In announcing the settlement, Pointer called the deputies’ actions “outrageous” and “egregious.”

“When you have things like this that are beyond the pale of reason, beyond the pale of anything that we should be prepared to accept as a community, then the settlement should reflect the level of outrage and injustice that was inflicted upon Mr. Monk and his family,” Pointer said.

In a statement, sheriff’s spokesperson Lt. Ty Modeste said “we have not fully completed the case,” adding that “the Sheriff’s Office will comment once the case has been finalized.” Modeste did not provide any further details.

The family’s lawsuit against Wellpath, the company hired by Alameda County to provide health care services in the jail, remains ongoing.

Monk died slightly more than a month after he was booked into the Santa Rita jail, where he was being held on $2,500 bail while facing a misdemeanor charge of threatening a bus driver. Police arrested him after an argument over whether he should wear a face mask on a bus, court records show.

Jail security footage later showed deputies repeatedly walking by his cell in the days before he was declared dead, with some wondering aloud “is (Monk) awake? Is he alive?” Even so, none of them stepped into his cell to check for themselves, the footage showed. At one point, a deputy kicked uneaten food from the door’s entryway before leaving without further action.

Monk’s family also claimed he went without direly needed medication for multiple medical conditions, including schizoaffective disorder. His sister, Elvira Monk, said she called the jail’s staff 10 to 15 times and begged them to ensure Monk got his medications, including a monthly injection often used to treat schizophrenia.

“It could have been avoided,” said his sister, Tiffany Monk, when her family filed the lawsuit in 2022. “I just want my brother back. I try not to think about it, because it just hurts.”

By the time that deputies finally entered his cell to check on him, Monk appeared to be dead for days — with the words “Alameda County” from his jail clothing having been stained into his chest as he began to decompose, according to a report by KTVU.

The family claimed that deputies also falsified their jail records to cover their tracks.

Earlier this month, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price announced she had recently reached a deal with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office to obtain documents in the case as part of an ongoing inquiry into Monk’s death.

The county’s Board of Supervisors authorized the $7 million payout on Aug. 31, and the settlement was announced during the board’s Nov. 14 meeting.