BALTIMORE — Maryland's Board of Public Works on Wednesday will consider approving a $7 million settlement with a former inmate who was allegedly brutalized while in custody.
Back in December of 2014, Daquan Wallace was viciously attacked by fellow inmates at the Baltimore City Detention Center for his alleged refusal to join the Black Guerrilla Family gang.
Wallace reportedly suffered a traumatic brain injury as result, that left him wheelchair bound.
The violent incident sparked lawsuits at the federal and state levels against the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, which accused guards of conspiring with the gang to arrange and allow the assault to happen.
In September of 2019 a Baltimore City jury awarded Wallace $25 million, but that was overturned on appeal and reduced to $200,000, according to attorney Lawrence S. Greenberg.
RELATED: 2014 Baltimore inmate attack trial ends with $25-million awarded against the State of Maryland
The case is set to go before the Supreme Court of Maryland in April in the event the Board refuses to settle.
One year following the attack former Governor Hogan ordered the jail to close. That process was finally completed in August of 2021.
At the time Hogan said "the Baltimore City Detention Center was known as one of the worst prisons in America, where corruption and poor conditions were dangerous for employees and detainees."
Over the years dozens of correctional officers at the facility were indicted for racketeering.
MORE: Demolition of the old Baltimore City Detention Center began Thursday morning
If approved, the settlement would come from the state's general funds. Greenberg says it would be the highest settlement paid in an inmate brutality case.
