Inmate’s suicide leads to $7M settlement with prison company

PHILADELPHIA – The company that ran a prison in the Philadelphia suburbs has agreed to pay $7 million to the family of an inmate who killed herself in 2015.

The family of 35-year-old Janene Wallace, of Upper Darby, claimed she was mistreated by guards and denied proper supervision and medical care at the George W. Hill Correctional Facility in Delaware County.

She was imprisoned for violating probation for a 2013 conviction of threatening another woman over the phone.

Her family’s lawyer says she had a history of mental illness and spent 52 days in solitary confinement, where a guard taunted her to kill herself before she hanged herself.

The guard and two others were fired.

In a statement, the prison says the company which is now operating it is revising policies.