RAYMONDVILLE, Texas (AP) - A Texas appeals court has upheld a $42.5 million civil verdict against a Florida private prison company and the warden of its Raymondville facility in the beating death of a prisoner.
A Willacy County jury had ordered Wackenhut Corrections Corp., now known as The GEO Group, and Warden David Forrest to pay the civil judgment to the family of Gregorio de la Rosa Jr.
The Thirteenth Court of Appeals said that Wackenhut's conduct was, quote, "clearly reprehensible and, frankly, constituted a disgusting display of disrespect for the welfare of others" and for the state's "civil justice system."
Last week's court ruling affirmed the Willacy County civil judgment returned in 2006.
De la Rosa died a few days before his expected 2001 release, when two inmates used padlocks stuffed into socks to beat him to death.
The Brownsville Herald reported that the appeals court reduced the judgment from $47.5 million to $42.5 million because one of the family members had died.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
