Milwaukee County approves $15K settlement for inmate

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Milwaukee County’s Judiciary, Services and General Services Committee approved a $15,000 settlement Thursday for a former county inmate who was hospitalized while incarcerated.

The committee, on the recommendation of corporation counsel, unanimously voted to pay Robert Schmidt, who filed suit in federal court in 2010 for deliberate indifference to a serious medical need.

Sheriff David Clarke, as well as nurses and doctors that work at the jail and House of Correction, were named in the suit. It claimed that Schmidt was not properly medicated and monitored for a blood deficiency and deep vein thrombosis while he was in House of Correction custody in October 2009.

In December 2009, Schmidt was hospitalized with a massive blood clot, according to a memo from corporation counsel. He alleged that employees of the county and sheriff’s office had not heeded complaints of pain he had made prior to his hospitalization.

The incident happened right as the sheriff’s office took over the House of Correction from the county. It has since been transferred back to the county, following a battle over its control between Clarke and the county that ended up in court.

The settlement proposal now heads to the Milwaukee County Board for approval. County Executive Chris Abele’s office is the final approval required.

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