Illinois jail must pay $880K to family members of inmate who died by suicide, judge rules
Areon Marion entered the Cook County Jail on June 1, 2021, and died on Oct. 31, 2021. (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
A federal judge in Illinois has awarded more than $880,000 to the estate of a 22-year-old man who died by suicide in the Cook County Jail.
In a July 12 decision determining how much to allot to Areon Marion’s parents, U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Young B. Kim for the Northern District of Illinois evaluated the relationships he had with his mother and father. Kim said Marion’s mother, Joanna Wilson, should receive $791,007.50, while his father, Adair Joyner, should receive $87,889.72, as part of the wrongful death settlement.
“The court notes that in ruling on the amount of the funds to be distributed to Joanna and Joyner in this case, the court is not quantifying the loss Areon’s parents are experiencing,” Kim wrote in his opinion. “Losing a child is a devastatingly painful experience, and the loss is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to quantify.
“That said, the court has an obligation to rule on the very narrow issue of the percentage of funds to be distributed to Joanna and Joyner. To do so, the court must ultimately compare the losses Joanna and Joyner each suffer from Areon’s death.”
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Marion died on Oct. 31, 2021, while he was detained at the Cook County Jail, according to Kim’s opinion. He had been arrested on June 1, 2021, and was assigned to a psychiatric special care unit to address symptoms of psychosis. He moved between the unit and one of the jail’s maximum-security divisions, and repeatedly expressed suicidal ideation.
On the day of his death, Marion was in the maximum-security division, the opinion says. A correctional officer who was supposed to conduct safety checks every 30 minutes left his post and did not ask for backup. Marion hanged himself during the officer’s absence.
To determine the distribution of settlement funds, Kim looked at “relative dependency,” which he said was not limited to financial dependency. He said it included “‘loss of society,’ which is ‘comprised of mutual benefits that each family member receives from the other’s continued existence, including loss of affection, care, attention, companionship, comfort, guidance, and protection.’”
Kim noted that Wilson was Marion’s primary caregiver and supported him both emotionally and financially through most of his life. In comparison, the judge said, Marion’s relationship with his father was strained. Marion hadn’t lived with him since he was a child, and the two only spoke to and saw each other occasionally.
“The court finds that the level of Joanna’s loss of Areon’s companionship is at least 10 times greater than Joyner’s,” Kim said in the decision. “This apportionment takes into account the time both parents spent with Areon and the companionship taken away from each parent because of Areon’s death.”
Kim also ordered the distribution of funds from the settlement to include $2,000 for Marion’s younger brother, and $2,500 for his older brother.
