Ex-inmate whose fingers were amputated settles lawsuit for $300,000

CLEVELAND — A former Cuyahoga County Jail inmate who spent a week in a coma and had two fingers partially amputated settled his lawsuit against the county and Metrohealth Medical Center for $300,000.

Cuyahoga County agreed to pay Marvin Robinson $212,500. Metrohealth, which provides health care for the jail, agreed to pay $87,500.

Robinson’s lawsuit, filed in federal court in Cleveland in 2022, said officials placed him in an isolated cell without water for days and that he only ended up going to the hospital after someone discovered him emaciated, his attorney said. His schizophrenia went untreated while jailed, according to the lawsuit.

“As is widely known, the county jail is a failed and inhumane place with inadequate training and policies to protect those with serious medical and mental health conditions,” Robinson’s attorney, Issac Tom Monah, said. “Hopefully, this settlement will deter this kind of preventable and irresponsible conduct. But at least Marvin will have the financial ability to improve his life.”

On June 14, 2021, Robinson was booked into the Cuyahoga County Jail on charges of breaking and entering at his uncle’s home in Cleveland. Six days later, a judge ordered his release on a personal bond, but with a

Gps-monitored ankle bracelet.

Jail and court officials never fitted him with the bracelet, and he remained jailed. Because of his history of mental illness, he was placed in the mental health portion of the jail.

He refused to take new medication prescribed to him by jail doctors, and his mental condition deteriorated, according to the lawsuit. He flooded his jail cell, and his access to water was shut off, Monah said.

Robinson, who only has one kidney, was placed in isolation for 10 days. The lawsuit said an officer slammed a door on Robinson’s fingers.

When someone found him unconscious and suffering from dehydration, he was taken to Metrohealth.