NEW YORK, March 7 (UPI) -- The family of a man from New York's Long Island will receive $725,000 in compensation for his Sing Sing prison poisoning death, a judge has ruled.
Rodney Williams, 20, died after someone laced his coffee with a poisonous hair removal product in October 2003, the New York Daily News reported Monday.
Williams, in prison for car theft, was due to be released three weeks later.
Court of Claims Judge Terry Jane Ruderman said if guards at Sing Sing Correctional Facility had provided Williams with proper medical care he might not have died.
Williams reportedly told guards someone had poisoned him but they delayed getting him medical attention, saying he was drunk.
"Had Williams received medical care in the morning hours of October 9, 2003, he would have had a significant chance of survival," Ruderman wrote.
The hair remover, Magic Shave, contained barium, which in its soluble form can be used to kill rodents, an expert called by Williams' lawyers testified.
"Poison-control should have been called, blood work should have been performed and IV fluids should have been administered," the judge wrote last week.
Kimberly Hartley, the dead man's aunt, said her nephew was ready to get out of prison and start a new life.
"They must get so many people in there who are crying wolf, but when it comes to someone in real danger they need to be more careful," Hartley said. "They're human beings, too."
