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| County Settles Suicide Lawsuit |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 01/09/2006 |
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San Mateo County has settled a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a California woman with a history of mental health problems who killed herself while in jail, officials said. The county agreed to pay $475,000 to the parents of Angela Ramirez, 23, who hanged herself with a bedsheet in the showers of the Women's Correctional Center in Redwood City in April 2003, according to attorneys on both sides. The woman's parents, Lisa Fidler and Rito Ramirez, had initially sought $11 million in federal claims but agreed to settle last month after deciding the case would be too difficult to try in federal court, said Randall Scarlett, one of their attorneys. The settlement does not include an admission of wrongdoing by the county. The suit alleged that the jail's staff was aware of Ramirez's mental health problems - she had been diagnosed as psychotic - but denied her help. She was serving a 120-day sentence on a minor drug conviction at the time. Sheriff Don Horsley said that all staff members at the jail have been trained in suicide prevention. He acknowledged that a personnel shortage and the jail's poor layout made it difficult to supervise. |
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