“Defendants failed to protect Mr. Laureano when they placed a particularly aggressive, violent, and discriminatory inmate with a history of severe physical assault and mental health issues with a vulnerable, 19-year-old black gay male, Mr. Laureano,” the lawsuit alleges.
A recently-filed federal lawsuit claims that the Wisconsin Department of Corrections should be found liable for the death of Micah Laureano, a 19-year-old inmate who was killed within hours of his transfer to the Green Bay Correctional Institution.
According to The Green Bay Press Gazette, the lawsuit was filed on behalf of Phyllis Laureano, who is Micah’s mother and is acting as administrator of his estate. Filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, the complaint alleges that the state Department of Corrections and its leadership violated Laureano’s Eighth Amendment rights by subjecting him to cruel and unusual punishment.
Attorneys for the Laureano estate also say that the defendants were “deliberately indifferent to the safety of Mr. Laureano,” who was found dead in his cell hours after being processed into the Green Bay Correctional Institution. His cellmate, 24-year-old Jackson Vogel, admitted that he killed Laureano because he was “bored” and because Laureano “checked all the boxes,” being both gay and African-American.
Lonnie Story, a lawyer for the Laureano estate, said that the Wisconsin Department of Corrections should have been aware of Vogel’s “propensity towards violence” and avoided housing him with Laureano, who is described as “a vulnerable person.”
“Defendants failed to protect Mr. Laureano when they placed a particularly aggressive, violent, and discriminatory inmate with a history of severe physical assault and mental health issues with a vulnerable, 19-year-old black gay male, Mr. Laureano,” the lawsuit alleges.
Story suggested that Laureano’s life could have been saved had the Wisconsin Department of Corrections and Green Bay Correctional Institution officials taken reasonable precautions.
“Their deliberate indifference is the foundational basis, because had they been more proactive in both the categorization of Mr. Vogel as well as Mr. Laureano, those two ships should never have collided,” Story told USA Today.
The Green Bay Press Gazette notes that, at the time of his death, Laureano was serving a three-year concurrent sentence for convictions related to assault and vehicle theft. Vogel, in contrast, was serving a 20-year prison for the attempted murder of his own mother.
A month after Laureano’s death, Vogel was also charged for making threats to a Manitowoc County judge and prosecutor. Prosecutors say that, in 2024, Vogel mailed death threats from the Racine Youthful Offenders Facility to figures involved in his attempted homicide case.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has said that the state plans to shutter Green Bay Correctional Institution sometime in the near future.
Sources
Federal lawsuit alleges 19-year-old inmate killed at Green Bay prison was not protected
Join the conversation!