Dude Left In Solitary Confinement For 2 Years Gets $15.5 Million Settlement

MSNBC – A man who spent 22 long months in solitary confinement in a New Mexico jail, neglected to the point where he was forced to pull out his own tooth because he said he wasn’t allowed to see a dentist, will receive $15.5 million for the ordeal. The settlement with Dona Ana County, N.M., falls short of the $22 million that Stephen Slevin, 59, and his attorney had asked for, but is still one of the largest prisoner civil rights payouts in U.S. history. “His mental health has been severely compromised from the time he was in that facility. That continues to be the same. No amount of money will bring back what they took away from him,” Matt Coyte, Slevin’s Albuquerque-based attorney, said on Wednesday. “But it’s nice to be able to get him some money so he can improve where he is in life and move on.” Slevin’s story of inhumane treatment in the Dona Ana County Jail, where he was incarcerated from 2005 to 2007 — which he said included his toenails growing so long that they curled around his foot, and fungus festering on his skin because he was deprived of showers — firstreceived publicity last January, when he was awarded the $22 million. Dona Ana County had been appealing the verdict ever since, refusing to pay Slevin. But the legal battle ended Tuesday with the $15.5 million settlement, a number decided on in court mediation, according to Jess Williams, Dona Ana County’s public information director. An initial payment of $6 million is expected to be wired to Slevin by the end of this week; he will receive the rest in installments in the following days. “He was driving through New Mexico and arrested for a DWI, and he allegedly was in a stolen vehicle. Well, it was a car he had borrowed from a friend; a friend had given him a car to drive across the country,” Coyte said in an interview last January. Slevin was depressed at the time, Coyte explained, and wanted to get out of New Mexico. Instead, he found himself in jail. “When he gets put in the jail, they think he’s suicidal, and they put him in a padded cell for three days, but never give him any treatment.” Nor did they give him a trial, Coyte said. Slevin said he never saw a judge during his time in confinement. After three days in the padded cell, jail guards transferred Slevin into solitary confinement with no explanation.

Hey bro you’ve got the worst fucking lawyer in the world. You know what year it is? Legitimate question because you’ve been locked away like John Patrick Mason in The Rock. I’ll tell you- its 2013. $15 mil is fucking peanuts. Some bus monitor got a million bucks because some teenagers made fun of her, for fuck’s sake. 2 years in solitary yanking out your own teeth and growing 6 inch toenails is worth at LEAST $100 mil. Settle for a lump sum of like 50. 15 million is garbage. $7.5 million per year in fucking solitary confinement? Worst lawyering ever.

2 years, $40 million. Thats my standard. 20 a year. I’m assuming this solitary confinement means no showering, no hygiene, no contact. You’re just in a room and you get some food pushed through a slot. You gotta realize you’re gonna be physically emotionally and mentally fucked after 2 years of that. So I need a large enough amount of money to know I’m absolutely set for life. And a fucking lavish life at that. A life that makes up for living in a fucking dungeon with toenails the size of bear claws. I don’t know what it is but the toenails detail is bothering me more than anything. Like the fungus is gross and the insanity from seclusion is terrible and pulling your own teeth is gruesome. But the curly toenails bumped my figured from like 2 years, 20 mil to 2 years, 40 mil. This guy shoulda had Boras at the negotiating table for him.