An Idaho prisoner was killed by cellmate. His family is pursuing lawsuit against IDOC
The family of an Idaho man killed last year by his cellmate at the Idaho State Correctional Center has filed a tort claim against the Department of Correction, its health care contractor and several employees seeking nearly $500,000 in damages.
The tort, filed May 10, alleges that prison officials did not provide appropriate supervision or medical care to prevent the man’s death.
Milo Warnock, 45, was beaten to death by a fellow prisoner on Dec. 10, 2023. The prisoner’s name has not been made public, and no charges have been filed over Warnock’s death.
The Idaho Department of Correction, or IDOC, did not return a request for comment.
In July 2023, Warnock was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with two years fixed for a DUI, meaning he could not seek parole until serving 24 months. It was his second DUI conviction since 2013 and his fifth overall.
According to the tort — a legal claim that must be filed against a government entity as a precursor to a lawsuit — Warnock was sent to solitary confinement after prison officials found he had “cheeked” his medication and not taken it. Warnock was prescribed an antidepressant that he said kept him awake when he took it at the prison’s evening distribution time. He began to hide the medication in his mouth, and then save it to take the following morning.
Warnock’s family and the tort said he filed multiple health service request forms to have his medication time changed to the morning. However, they said, Warnock had not been told that the prison was not checking the paper request forms submitted to a box on-site. Instead, the prison required inmates to submit electronic health service requests via kiosks, something Warnock’s family said he wasn’t told about.
After Warnock was released from solitary confinement, he was sent to a more secure unit in the prison, the G Block. Warnock’s mother, Kathy Warnock, told the Idaho Statesman that her son was “appalled” at the environment.
“He looked around and knew that he wasn’t like the rest of the offenders there,” Kathy Warnock said.
Warnock’s family said he told them he was having trouble with his new cellmate. The tort described the prisoner as “mentally disturbed” with “a pattern of escalating behavior.”
Since his death, the tort said, Warnock’s family has been “stonewalled” by the Department of Correction and its employees.
“The details of Milo’s death have not been shared with his family, which prevents closure and accountability,” the tort said.
Prison, IDOC were ‘indifferent’ to prisoner’s issues, tort says
The tort was sent to the Idaho Department of Correction, its health care contractor Centurion Health, IDOC Director Josh Tewalt, Idaho State Correctional Center Warden Randy Valley, and other employees responsible for health care and regulations in Idaho prisons.
The claim said IDOC made it “extraordinarily difficult” for Warnock to request the medical care he needed, resulting in his rule violation and subsequent move to G Block, where he was killed. It also said Centurion Health and the department failed to provide Warnock with emergency treatment, call for emergency responders or transfer Warnock to a hospital for trauma care.
The tort said Warnock was moved to G Block due to the prison’s overcrowding and understaffing, not because he needed to be in an area with tighter security.
“IDOC and its employees were deliberately indifferent to the fact that it was an extreme placement,” according to the tort. “Milo should not have been placed with his cellmate, who had a history of escalating behaviors.”
The tort alleged that prison guards were more than 30 minutes behind on patrols when Warnock was attacked — a symptom of understaffing. Warnock had no way to communicate to staff that there was an emergency, the claim said.
Warnock’s family asked for roughly $465,000 in noneconomic and special damages. IDOC and the others named in the tort have until early August to respond.
