$3.25 Million Paid by Georgia After Prisoner Bakes to Death in Outdoor Recreation Cage
by Chuck Sharman
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia granted approval on March 26, 2026, to a $3.25 million settlement resolving claims filed on behalf of a state prisoner who died of a heart attack caused by heat exhaustion while locked in a recreation cage outside Telfair State Prison in July 2023. Though the heat index that afternoon climbed to 105 degrees Fahrenheit, guards ignored pleas from prisoner Juan Carlos Ramirez Bibiano for over four hours as he slowly cooked death, according to the complaint later filed on his behalf in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia.
Ramirez Bibiano, 27, had just been returned to the prison on July 19 from a stay at Augusta State Medical Prison, where he was treated for suicidal ideations. He was placed in Telfair’s Tier F1, an administrative segregation area with single-bunk cells that “functioned like solitary confinement, restricting inmates’ contact with other inmates and severely limiting their time outside of their cells,” the complaint recalled.
The next morning, on July 20, Ramirez Bibiano received his prescribed dosage of Zyprexa and Cymbalta, psychotropic medications that happen to interfere with the body’s ability to regulate its internal temperature. He saw a prison mental health provider at 9:30 a.m. and proceeded to the recreation yard about 50 minutes later—but not before Deputy Warden of Security Veronica Stewart emptied a canister of pepper spray into his cell, in retaliation for his failure to bring the cell to “inspection ready” condition since his arrival.
Warden Andrew McFarlane encouraged such harsh punishments for minor infractions, the complaint noted. But because of the forecast heat, McFarlane had also warned staffers not to leave prisoners too long outside or too long without water. They were further instructed to provide frequent “ice calls.” But once inside the eight-by-twelve-foot cage, Ramirez Bibiano got no water, no ice and no shade as the sun baked him on the concrete floor beneath his feet.
Within 20 minutes, he was pleading for medical help. But guards Joshua Garrett and Michael Paulk ignored the prisoner’s cries, and those of fellow prisoners who saw his plight. “Fuck him,” Paulk told the other prisoners. “If he dies, he dies.” When Ramirez Bibiano stripped off his prison jumpsuit, Paulk and Garrett threatened him with more pepper spray.
They eventually relayed his request for medical help to their supervising Unit Manager, guard Arlene Hunt, but she instructed Garret and Paulk to leave the prisoner outside. Hunt’s supervisor, Sgt. Ronneisha Moore, did not intervene. When Hunt at last went onto the yard at 2:40 p.m., she first ordered the other prisoners removed before opening the cage, where Ramirez Bibiano was found with an internal body temperature of 107 degrees, his naked body covered in vomit, feces and leftover pepper spray. Emergency responders took him to a hospital where he was pronounced dead later that day.
With the aid of attorneys Jeffrey R. Filipovits and Wingo F. Smith, III of Filipovits & Smith, LLC in Decatur, the dead prisoner’s mother, Norma Bibiano, filed suit in the district court in February 2025. Proceeding under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, she accused Defendant prison officials of deliberate indifference to her son’s serious risk of harm, in violation of his Eighth Amendment rights, as well as punishing him for the cell-readiness infraction without due process, in violation of his Fourteenth Amendment rights.
The parties then proceeded to reach their settlement agreement. Under its terms, the state Department of Administrative Services (DOAS) agreed to pay $3.25 million to resolve both the federal civil rights claims and related tort claims that were filed in state court with the aid of attorneys from the Chadha Jiminez Law Firm in Atlanta. Specifically, the DOAS promised to pay $1,202,435.10 for the benefit of the dead prisoner’s minor son, A.R., and another $2,047,564.90 to the Plaintiff, inclusive of costs and fees for her attorneys. See: Bibiano v. Garrett, USDC (S.D. Ga.), Case No. 3:25-cv-00013.
The state Department of Corrections (DOC) initially reported that the death was due to “natural causes,” according to WABE in Atlanta. Only after the lawsuit was filed were the Plaintiff’s attorneys able to see the coroner’s report. No charges have reportedly been filed against any of the guards involved, and the DOC has not commented on whether there was an investigation that might result in discipline for them.
Additional source: WABE
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