Alaska agrees $1.8 settlement with paralyzed former inmate

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Alaska has agreed to pay $1.8 million to settle the lawsuit of a former inmate who suffered paralysis in a state prison.

The Anchorage Daily News reported Wednesday that Nicholas Tucker says he still suffers from partial paralysis from a spinal cord infection he contracted at Spring Creek Correctional Center in 2015.

The 37-year-old says officials at the maximum-security prison in Seward disregarded the seriousness of his illness for days despite repeated pleas for help.

Tucker sued the Alaska Department of Corrections in 2017 following his 2016 release from prison.

The corrections department says privacy laws prevent it from explaining what occurred.

The agreement will also pay $200,000 in Medicaid liens for the former commercial fisherman from Ketchikan, who was convicted of fraudulent use of an access device.
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Information from: Anchorage Daily News, http://www.adn.com