Hennepin County will pay $3.4 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of a man who died in jail.
The suit was brought by Lou Bellamy, the founder of Minneapolis' renowned Penumbra Theater. It came after his son Lucas died in 2022, allegedly after begging guards to be taken to the hospital.
Lucas Bellamy died from a perforated bowel, and the suit alleges he had to crawl around on his hands and knees in pain for days.
The settlement comes as the Hennepin County Sheriff's Department has been ordered by the state to drastically reduce its jail population due to concerns over ongoing staffing shortages.
In September, Hennepin County moved 180 inmates to other counties in order to deal with overcrowding. Sheriff Dewanna Witt told WCCO Radio at the time that she's concerned about conditions for not just inmates but staff.
"We're the largest jail in the state, we're the busiest jail in the state," says Witt. "You know, think about it this way, we are the hub for the 37 municipalities in this county for people that are arrested. We operate out of two different buildings. That is also taxing on staffing."
The jail is located in Minneapolis City Hall and the Public Safety Building at this time, but Witt said that if the current inmate trend continues, she would seek to build a new jail outside Minneapolis.