Lawsuit filed over inmate’s death at Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill

A lawsuit claims an asthmatic inmate at the “notoriously old and dilapidated” Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill died from the extreme negligence of staff after he was placed in a “dangerously hot cell.”

The lawsuit was filed on Thursday in U.S. District Court of Northern Illinois by Chicago law firm Kaplan and Grady, whose attorneys are representing the family of Michael Broadway, 51. He died on June 19 from bronchial asthma with heat stress as a “significant contributing condition.”

The defendants in the case include the Illinois Department of Corrections and Wexford Health Sources, a corporation that has a “multibillion-dollar contract” with the state to provide healthcare at prisons, according the lawsuit.

Several prison and medical staffers are listed as defendants as well.

The Illinois Department of Corrections declined to comment on the allegations in the lawsuit. Wexford Health Sources did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.

The lawsuit submitted in federal court by Terah Tollner, an attorney for Kaplan and Grady, said Broadway’s “tragic and painful death was the result of defendants’ cruelty and callous indifference.”

During an “intense heat wave,” prison staff placed Broadway in the “highest and hottest gallery” in a housing unit at Stateville against his wishes and while knowing he had severe asthma, the lawsuit alleged.

“They did so even though there were empty cells on lower floors,” the lawsuit alleged.

The unit had no air conditioning and it had “old concrete” that “traps the heat,” the lawsuit alleged. Even though there was a large industrial fan in front of Broadway’s cell, prison staff denied his request to turn the fan on and left it “padlocked and unused during the record June heat,” the lawsuit alleged.

On June 19, the heat index reached almost 100 degrees and inmates living next to Broadway’s cell estimated it was 115 to 120 degrees, the lawsuit alleged.

Broadway struggled to breathe from the “oppressive heat and his severe asthma,” and fellow inmates called out for help, the lawsuit alleged.

Yet a correctional officer did not follow protocol for urgent medical care and instead contacted a lieutenant who felt it was “too hot” to respond right away, the lawsuit alleged.

Other correctional staff also became aware of Broadway’s suffering but did nothing to initiate immediate medical assistance and instead “stood by and simply watched” Broadway’s condition worsen, the lawsuit alleged.

When a nurse responded to the scene, she “walked slowly” to the housing unit but initially “refused to walk up the stairs” to Broadway’s cell because it was “too hot,” the lawsuit alleged.

When the nurse finally decided to visit Broadway’s cell, she did not bring any medical equipment, the lawsuit alleged. Even though the nurse was told that Broadway was asthmatic and struggling to breathe, she gave him naxolone, medicine that reverses opioid overdoses.

“Unsurprisingly, the naxolone was completely ineffective,” the lawsuit alleged.

Even though the medicine had no positive effect on Broadway, the nurse gave him the medicine a second time and then “just stood there” while “doing nothing further” to assist Broadway, the lawsuit alleged.

Correctional staff brought ice to Broadway’s cell and performed chest compressions but did not call 911 nor directed anyone else to contact 911, the lawsuit alleged.

More nurses were called to the scene but they did not carry “standard life-saving medical equipment,” and Broadway was put on a stretcher with “missing straps and handles” that caused further delays, the lawsuit alleged.

One nurse had called 911 and reported Broadway was suffering from a “possible heat stroke,” the lawsuit alleged.

Broadway was taken to Ascension Saint Joseph – Joliet hospital, where he was declared dead.

After the incident, correctional staff were awarded a “team efforts award commendation” even though the lawsuit alleges Broadway died a preventable death because of their indifference.

Broadway is survived by his wife, Chunece Jones-Broadway, who is the plaintiff in the lawsuit case. He’s also survived by his son, his five young grandchildren, his mother and other family members.

Broadway earned a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University in 2023 while in prison and he published a novel called “One Foot In”, according to the lawsuit.

Broadway’s “success and perseverance made him a role model to many inside and outside the IDOC,” the lawsuit said.