$2.135 Million Partial Settlement Reached in Schizophrenic Detainee’s Death from “Gross Medical Neglect” at South Carolina Jail
by Chuck Sharman
The South Carolina Court of Common Pleas for Charleston County approved a settlement on February 26, 2026, paying $2,135,000 to the Estate of D’Angelo Dontrel Brown, a schizophrenic detainee who died in December 2022 after being found unresponsive in his cell at the County’s Al Cannon Detention Center (ACDC). Additional claims survived the settlement and remain pending against the jail’s contracted medical provider at the time, Wellpath, Inc., as well as several employees of the now-bankrupt firm.
Brown, 28, was detained at the jail in August 2022 on suspicion of a home invasion in suburban West Ashley; the settlement included a $500,000 payment to resolve the homeowner’s claims filed against Brown’s Estate. A portion of the settlement funds was provided by the state Department of Mental Health (DMH) and Accountable Healthcare Staffing (AHS) to resolve claims filed by the Estate in yet another suit arising from Brown’s death.
ACDC guards found Brown unresponsive in his isolation cell on December 29, 2022, lying in his own bodily waste and vomit. He was transported to a hospital, where he died. Despite a documented history of mental illness, he received almost no care during his four-month incarceration. Coroner Bobbi Jo O’Neal attributed the death to septic shock and multiple organ failure caused by an untreated e. coli infection; as a result, it was ruled a homicide caused by “gross medical neglect.”
With the aid of attorneys James B. Moore III, Scott C. Evans, and George W. Bryan, III of Evans Moore, LLC in Georgetown, Brown’s mother, Nekeya Jones, as Special Administrator and executor of his Estate, filed suit in the Court of Common Pleas in 2023, accusing the County, its Sheriff and Wellpath, along with various of their employees, of deliberate indifference to his serious medical need, in violation of his Fourteenth Amendment rights as secured by 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Defendants removed the suit to the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina in May 2024, where Wellpath filed a suggestion of bankruptcy when it sought protection under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code in November 2024.
As PLN reported, the firm emerged from bankruptcy months later with a plan to pay just $15.5 million and give up a one-third ownership share of its reorganized business to resolve hundreds of millions of dollars in obligations for settlements in prison and jail neglect cases. [See: PLN, May 2025, p.56.] The settlement approved for Brown’s case did not resolve any claims against Wellpath or its employees, which the Estate’s attorneys must now pursue in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, which is overseeing Wellpath’s Chapter 11 reorganization. See: In re Wellpath Holdings Inc., USBC (S.D. Tex.), Case No. 24-90533.
Meanwhile, the Estate reached a settlement with the remaining Defendants, including the DMH and AHS, both of which Jones sued separately. Under the terms of the agreement, a total of $2,135,000 was paid, including $1 million by Charleston County and another $975,000 by Priya Patel M.D., reflecting the million-dollar limits of their insurance policies. The DMH paid another $100,000 and AHS an additional $60,000 on top of that for their shares of the claims.
After the $500,000 payout to settle the homeowners’ claims, the Estate was left with $1,635,000, of which its attorneys were paid $840,000 in fees, representing 40% of the total settlement, plus $70,310.14 in costs. Jones received a commission equal to 5%, or $85,400. Probate court costs of $3,590 were also disbursed, along with $12,000 in fees to probate counsel from West Law Firm in Moncks Corner. Another $5,743.33 in funeral expenses was paid, as well.
The remaining $603,956.53 was earmarked for Brown’s 10-year-old son, “D.B.,” including an immediate payment of $10,000 to his mother, Erica Crawford. The rest was put into instruments that will make structured payments to D.B. of $833.33 per month for seven years starting on January 1, 2027, plus $5,000.00 on his 18th birthday as a “college startup” and $250.00 per month thereafter for four years; three lump-sum payments of $50,000.00 each were scheduled for “college repayment” on July 1 of 2039, 2040 and 2041. Monthly payments of $1,715.20 were then set to begin on December 1, 2040, plus a yearly payment of $2,500 for 40 years. An additional $250,000 payout was scheduled for December 1, 2043, to go “towards the purchase of a home.”
At that point, the district court partially remanded the case to the Court of Common Pleas on February 9, 2026, for the settlement approval issued 17 days later. See: Jones v. Charleston Cty., S.C. Comm. Pleas (Cty. of Charleston), Case No. 2023-CP-10-01166. All claims against Wellpath and its personnel remain pending in the federal court, and PLN will continue to update developments as they unfold. See: Jones v. Charleston Cty., USDC (D.S.C.), Case No. 6:24-cv-03237.
Additional source: Post & Courier
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Related legal case
Jones v. Charleston Cty., USDC (D.S.C.)
| Year | 2024 |
|---|---|
| Cite | Case No. 6:24-cv-03237 |
| Level | District Court |