Panel approves millions to settle lawsuit over death of man in Fort Smith prison

The estate of a mentally ill man who starved to death in the Sebastian County Jail in Fort Smith is close to reaching a settlement in a federal court lawsuit.

District Judge Steve Hotz said on Thursday that the Sebastian County Quorum Court approved an appropriation of up to $3 million to settle the county’s share of the lawsuit filed on August 29, 2021, over the death of Larry Eugene Price Jr.

Hotz said the vote on Tuesday evening was unanimous.

Price, 51, was an impoverished man who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and had an IQ below 55, according to the lawsuit filed last year. He served more than a year in jail because he could not pay $100 bail while awaiting trial for pointing the finger at Fort Smith police.

During this time, the complaint tells the horrific story of a man who ate his own feces, drank his own urine, and was in desperate need of psychiatric care. By the time he was found unconscious on the prison floor in a puddle of toilet water and urine, his weight had dropped from 185 pounds to 90 pounds.

Hank BalsonOne of the Seattle lawyers representing Price's estate said Friday that the attorneys are “working closely with the defendants on the terms of a settlement.”

“It’s not finished yet,” but it’s getting closer to the goal, he said.

According to court records, attorneys held a settlement hearing in the dispute on July 8. The next day, the case was reassigned to Judge Timothy L. Brooks by Judge PK Holmes III in U.S. District Court in Fort Smith.

In addition to Sebastian County, other defendants Turn Key Health Clinics LLCan Oklahoma-based company that contracted to provide physical and mental health care to the prison's inmates; Turn Key's then-chief psychiatrist; a Turn Key nurse who was responsible for the inmates' physical health care; and numerous prison employees and others.

A telephone message left Friday with one of Price's estate's attorneys was not immediately returned.