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Escambia County Approves $200,000 Settlement In Century Woman’s Jail Death
August 8, 2025
Escambia County voted Thursday night to approve a $200,000 settlement in the death of a Century woman with special needs who died in the county jail in 2021.
The medical malpractice lawsuit was filed against Escambia County and West Florida Hospital. The lawsuit was filed in January 2024 by Melania Smith on behalf of her daughter, Alia Wardell, who died alone in jail in November 2021 after being discharged from the hospital into the Escambia County Jail.
The lawsuit alleged that both the hospital and the county failed to provide Wardell with life-saving medications for her diabetes and other serious conditions. According to the suit, a West Florida Hospital nurse reportedly noted concerns about discharging Wardell, stating she needed constant monitoring, and the patient herself had expressed fear of dying in jail. The hospital was accused of discharging Wardell in an “unsafe manner” and failing to inform the jail of her medical needs and medications, including Desmopressin and Hydrocortisone. West Florida Hospital has already reached a confidential settlement in the case.
The lawsuit further claimed that Escambia County EMTs and an LPN at the jail also failed to identify Wardell’s medical needs, including her prescriptions, and that she was not provided her medications.
Wardell had been admitted to West Florida Hospital on November 16, 2021, and was later charged with multiple counts of battery for allegedly attacking nurses. She was discharged on November 22 into the custody of Escambia County deputies. On November 28, she was found unresponsive in her jail cell and was pronounced dead at Baptist Hospital.
Escambia County’s $200,000 settlement to resolve all present and future claims and in exchange for a release and hold harmless agreement. The county has already paid a portion of the deductible and will be responsible for payment of the balance.
This is an update to a story we brought you earlier in the week.
Comments
2 Responses to “Escambia County Approves $200,000 Settlement In Century Woman’s Jail Death”
Dalton – who do you think is footing the bill every time these restitutions are paid.? The tax payers! Not everybody is as generous as you willing to pay more and more for medical care and property taxes .
I have a family member working in an emergency room out of State and most violent attacks directed toward first responders are drug related. Just a couple of days ago 2 firemen in Mississippi were besten and had to be hospitalized because an angry crowd believed they took too long to cut their friend out of a mangled car after a drag race!
That is absolutely wild to me man. Only 200k?! I hope the hospital hooked her family up better than that. I know it won’t bring your family member back, but if I lost someone I loved due to the negligence of a hospital and a jail, both of them have tremendous funds at their disposal and I’d want a whole lot of it. Im surprised they settled for anything less than a million.