Double-amputee who had to crawl to toilet settles suit

The state has agreed to pay $200,000 to a double-amputee who claims she was placed in isolation while in prison and left to fend for herself for two weeks after she developed a staph infection in the stump of one of her legs.

The settlement came just before final arguments in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Martinique Stoudemire who says she was forced to crawl from her bed to a toilet while quarantined in a segregation cell normally used for discipline at the Huron Valley Women's Facility, near Ann Arbor.

Stoudemire, who lost both of her legs in prison because of health issues, was placed in the cell to segregate her from other inmates after she developed an infection from a second amputation on one of her legs. While in isolation, Stoudemire had to change her own dressings and defecate on the floor at the women's prison in 2006, the lawsuit alleged.

The lawsuit went to trial in March and April.

Corrections Department spokesman Chris Gautz declined to comment on why the state settled the case.  During the trial, the state denied ignoring Stoudemire's needs.

A separate confidential settlement was made with doctors involved in Martinique Stoudemire's care. Attorney Patricia Streeter tells the Associated Press that the results give Stoudemire a "clean start."

Warden can be sued for placing amputee in prison 'hole'

Stoudemire, who was imprisoned for her role as a driver during several armed robberies committed by her brother, was paroled in 2007.

Last year, a federal appeals court ruled Stoudemire’s lawsuit could proceed against the former warden of the prison, Susan Davis.

Davis, who retied in 2008, claimed she couldn't be sued because, although she placed prisoner Martinique Stoudemire in the cell area known as "the hole" in 2006, she relied on medical staff to alert her if there was a problem and wasn't aware Stoudemire had to change her own dressings and defecate on the floor.

But the appeals court said Davis admittedly knew of Stoudemire's condition and nonetheless placed her in a cell that was not suitable for a handicapped person and further lacked a means of seeking help from the penal staff.

Stoudemire was 23 and had many health problems when she was first sent to Huron Valley in 2002, suffering from a chronic and painful autoimmune disease, a tendency to develop blood clots, and depression, according to the appeals court ruling in the case.

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"Without proper care, Stoudemire bore a significant risk of experiencing kidney and liver damage, heart attacks, amputations and chronic pain," the court said.

After arriving at the prison, Stoudemire's health quickly deteriorated and she suffered a heart attack, liver failure and several life-threatening embolisms, the court said. She had three amputations while in prison, two of them on the same leg, eventually losing both legs below the knee.

Following Stoudemire's final amputation in December of 2006, her stump became infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), requiring quarantine, and Davis ordered her placed in one of the segregation cells normally used for prisoners who have violated rules, the court said.

Stoudemire spent two weeks there, without devices for the handicapped to help her move around and without an alert button, meaning she had to shout for the guards when she needed help, the court said.

Paul Egan of the Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau contributed to this report.