Wellpath pays $2.5M to family of Oakland man left for dead at Santa Rita Jail
Wellpath pays $2.5M to family of Oakland man left for dead at Santa Rita Jail
Wellpath paid the children of Maurice Monk $2.5 million after he was left for dead at Santa Rita Jail for days in 2021.
DUBLIN, Calif. - Private healthcare provider Wellpath has paid the children of an Oakland man left for dead at Santa Rita Jail $2.5 million, in addition to Alameda County paying those same children an unprecedented $7 million.
The agreement was finalized on Wednesday, when attorneys Adante Pointer, Ty Clarke and Patrick Buelna told Nia'Amore Monk, she would be awarded $2.3 million stemming from the 2021 death of her 45-year-old father, Maurice Monk.
Her brother, Kyse, who filed a separate suit, will be awarded $250,000.
"Money comes and money goes," Nia'Amore Monk said. "Hopefully it made enough noise in the news to where people who will be hestiant who are not doing their jobs."
She said she has bought homes for herself and her mother and is happy to be able to provide for her 9-month-old daughter, who will never be able to meet her grandfather.
Wellpath was represented by attorney Paul Cardinale. The company did not respond to a request seeking comment from KTVU about the settlement.
Pointer told KTVU that he and his firm fought "relentlessly" to get Monk's children this settlement, despite the fact that Wellpath filed for bankruptcy in November 2024, after facing 1,500 lawsuits around the country alleging substandard medical care.
Wellpath fought the Monk family every step of the way.
"Bankruptcy affected the litigation of justice," Pointer said, noting that Monk died more than four years ago. "Wellpath did the Texas two-step to avoid paying the people they harmed."
The bankruptcy court hearings were held before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Alfredo Perez in Houston, Texas.
Oakland man left for dead at Santa Rita Jail, exclusive video shows
An Oakland man was left for dead for several days at Santa Rita Jail as new allegations are surfacing for the first time that deputies doctored the books to make it seem like they were checking in on him, when in fact, they did not provide any meaningful care, KTVU has learned.
$10 million for children
This final settlement of nearly $10 million caps an ending chapter for the Monk family.
Monk had gone to Santa Rita Jail after missing a court appearance in October 2021 for making a threatening statement four months earlier to an AC Transit bus driver during COVID. He had schizoaffective disorder and refused to wear a mask.
He was taken into custody on Oct. 11, after his public defender had argued unsuccessfully to let him be released, as his family couldn't afford the bail.
Monk was discovered dead in his cell on Nov. 15, 2021.
Body camera video obtained exclusively by KTVU shows that deputies and Wellpath nurses had opened the door to his cell for several days before that, but never physically entered the room or asked him if he was OK, despite his nearly catatonic state.
He suffered from hypertensive disorder, diabetes and schizophrenia, which his sisters had tried to get him medication for in jail. But they faced bureaucratic red tape in getting him his prescriptions until it was too late.
The body camera video shows Monk had been lying there prone, half naked with a pool of urine at the foot of his bed, for days.
When Maurice Monk of Oakland was found dead in his Santa Rita Jail cell, there were uneaten food trays and pills in his cell.
In fact, he had been there so long that the ink imprint of his jail shirt had stained his chest. Stacks of uneaten food trays and pills lay scattered on the floor.
An internal sheriff's investigation found that some deputies forged the wellness check timelines
(From L-R) Nia' Mor , Tiffany and Elvira Monk the daughter and sisters of Maurice Monk, who languished for days at Santa Rita Jail.
and failed to identify plenty of signs that Monk had been in medical distress, according to Monk's wrongful death lawsuit.
As a result of the $7-million payout by the county to Monk's children, Sheriff Yesenia Sanchez also made changes to welfare checks and how they're conducted. The jail also now has electronic key cards showing deputies' whereabouts, instead of handwritten logs.
In addition, then-District Attorney Pamela Price charged nine deputies, one doctor and one Wellpath nurse in Monk's death.
They have all pleaded not guilty and that case is still pending.
Wellpath focus of activists
Monk's death also spurred action against Wellpath, which is currently the focus of jail reform activists who want the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to end its five-year, $250- million contract with the company in 2027 and turn to county-run medical care instead.
An independent consultant hired by the county found Wellpath is not providing the national standard of care, and paid Alameda County $2.1 million in 2024 for falling short of its contract in terms of providing adequate staffing to the jail.
The national standard in hospitals for care and service is between 90% and 95% compliance.
The audit, presented last month to a committee of supervisors, found that Wellpath has not reached that level in any of the key areas in 2025, such as tracking serious health problems, where it got 12%; providing general patient care, where it got 42%; providing chronic care like diabetes and high blood pressure, where it got 83%; or medical-legal, where it got 6%.
Cole Casey, senior vice president of operations of Wellpath, spoke at that meeting, disputing some of the auditor's data and methodology.
The supervisors took no action but said they should meet again in September for an update.
Clarke, one of the attorneys who represents the Monk family, said he thinks getting rid of Wellpath is the right thing to do.
"I think for-profit healthcare in prisons just doesn't work in prisons and jails," he said. "It doesn't work anywhere in society, but it particularly doesn't work in jails."