The Corrections Department paid out a total of $440,000 in legal settlements last year relating to the death in custody of Steven Mansfield (Pepe) Dill and the unlawful dismissal of Assistant Commissioner Randall Woolridge.

Father-of-two Mr. Dill, 41, tried in vain to summon medical assistance for seven hours before dying of complications associated with bronchial asthma in December 2001. He had only two months left to serve at the Ferry Reach facility for drugs possession. An inquest in 2003 ruled that Mr. Dill died as a result of the absence of timely medical intervention which was possibly exacerbated by drug abuse.

No criminal prosecution has ever been brought in relation to Mr. Dill’s death. His widow, Lee-Ann Samuels Dill told this newspaper last summer that she felt prison staff should have faced charges, and demanded justice for her family.

Community and Cultural Affairs Minister Wayne Perinchief announced during a budget debate on Friday that $325,000 had been paid out by Government in October 2006 in relation to Mr. Dill’s death. He did not state who the payment went to.

However, Opposition MP Maxwell Burgess greeted the news by saying that Mr. Dill’s family had been “owed” over his death and adding that he was glad “the Government has been jolted and the family has been compensated”.

In addition to the Dill payout, Mr. Perinchief also told the House that Corrections paid $115,000 to Mr. Woolridge in December last year for wrongful dismissal. Supreme Court judge Ian Kawaley ruled in 2005 that the ousting of the Assistant Commissioner of Corrections was unlawful. He said Mr. Woolridge was entitled to compensation for his unlawful retirement and also awarded him costs for taking his complaint to court.

Mr. Woolridge, along with two other officers, was retired on July 31, 2004 on the recommendations of a Department of Corrections Review Panel formed by then Home Affairs Minister Randy Horton.