Dying Mississippi Prisoner Wins Preservation Testimony in Suit Blaming Terminal Cancer on Exposure to Janitorial Chemicals
Susie Annie Balfour, who spent 33 years incarcerated at Central Mississippi Correctional Facility (CMCF) before her 2021 release, died on August 5, 2025, the victim of metastatic breast cancer that she blamed on exposure to toxic chemicals in cleaning agents she was forced to use in her prison janitorial job. The 64-year-old left behind a lawsuit which is still pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. Fortunately, she was also able to leave a deposition testimony for trial, after fighting the state Department of Corrections (DOC) and other Defendants for the right to do so and winning on January 7, 2025.
Balfour had already been diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer, which was terminal, when she filed her suit in 2024. Proceeding under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, she accused DOC officials of exposing her without protective gear to cleaning chemicals that were known to cause cancer and then failing to diagnose and timely treat her when she became sick, thereby demonstrating deliberate indifference to her serious medical need in violation of her Eighth Amendment rights.
Named Defendants in her suit also included Jackson HMA, which ran the Merit Health System where some of her care was provided, as well as all three private firms—and their employee doctors—contracted by the DOC to provide prisoner healthcare during the last 15 years of her incarceration: VitalCore Health Strategies, since October 2020; Centurion Health, from July 2016 to October 2020; and Wexford Health Sources, from June 2006 to June 2016.
Defendant Dr. Gloria Perry, who was serially employed by all three Defendant DOC medical contractors, argued that Balfour’s claims were barred by the statute of limitations or her own qualified immunity (QI). That was sufficient to stay discovery in the case while the district court considered those threshold motions. But no court had the power to slow the progression of Balfour’s disease. She moved to compel discovery from all other Defendants or, in the alternative, to preserve her own testimony by deposition for a trial that would almost certainly be conducted posthumously.
The district court wondered what she planned to accomplish with the deposition, to which Balfour replied “that her testimony will provide an account of the progression of her illness, the impact of Defendants’ conduct, and the damages she has suffered.” Finding that more persuasive than the objections of Perry—who had since been joined by several other Defendant medical providers, all of whom also claimed QI—the district court granted Balfour’s deposition motion. See: Balfour v. Jackson HMA, LLC, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2523.
Perry, who served in the Office of Medical Compliance, then successfully argued to the district court that she was merely a functionary and not a direct provider of medical care to Balfour; so claims against her were dismissed on June 3, 2025. Balfour v. Jackson HMA, LLC, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 104926 (S.D. Miss. 2025).
Other claims remain pending, and PLN will report developments as they unfold. Balfour is represented by attorneys Andrew F. Tominello and George F. Hollowell, Jr. of the Hollowell Law Firm in Greenville, as well as Joseph A. Murphy of Smith, Murphy & Dobbs LLC in Oxford. See: Balfour v. Jackson HMA, LLC, USDC (S.D. Miss.), Case No. 3:24-cv-00093.
A bill sponsored by Rep. Justis Gibbs (D-Jackson) in the 2025 legislative session would have required the DOC to provide prisoners protective gear while on work assignments. It passed the state House but then died in the Senate.
Additional source: Mississippi Today
As a digital subscriber to Prison Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.
Already a subscriber? Login
Related legal case
Balfour v. Jackson HMA, LLC
| Year | 2024 |
|---|---|
| Cite | U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2523 |
| Level | District Court |