Handling of inmate defended by Maryland: Black Man died after violent struggle with correctional officers

• Ifeanyi A. Iko's Family alleges Prison Cover-up
  
• The Cresaptown prison staff is 96 percent white and the inmate population 76 percent black. [more]

An inmate who died after a violent struggle with correctional staff at a Western Maryland prison last year was handled appropriately and did not appear to be in medical distress after the encounter, according to court papers filed by state lawyers representing the officers. The papers offer the first detailed account by state officials of events leading to Ifeanyi A. Iko's death by asphyxiation. They were filed by the state attorney general's office in response to a civil suit by Iko's family that seeks $28 million in damages. The state specifically denied claims that Iko, 51, was dead when officials had an ambulance remove him from the Western Correctional Institution near Cumberland. If he had been declared dead while inside the prison, WCI officials would have been required under correctional department rules to take steps to secure the scene and preserve evidence. Gary C. Adler, a lawyer representing Iko's family, has contended that removing Iko's body -- but handling him as if he were alive -- was part of a deliberate effort by the prison staff to cover up the circumstances of his death April 30.  In their lawsuit, Iko family members say that he was "discovered cold and without a pulse" about an hour and a half after he had been left lying in the cell. [more]

• Homicide at Western Md. prison [more]
•  Ifeanyi A. Iko died in custody, leaving questions about his treatment and suspicions of a cover-up. [more]
  
• FBI launches probe into death of Md. inmate [more]
• Prison officers blocked medical help for inmate, Iko kin allege Complaint is in civil suit seeking $28 million [more]
• Pictured above: The death of Nigerian immigrant Ifeanyi A. Iko was the first homicide recorded at the Western Correctional Institution. "I clearly heard Iko scream out, then abruptly go silent," a fellow inmate said. [more]