DOC pays $107,500 to settle prison cases

DOC pays $107,500 to settle prison cases

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Story Published: Apr 18, 2008 at 4:56 PM PDT

Story Updated: Nov 20, 2008 at 6:38 PM PDT

By Associated Press

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - The Washington Department of Corrections has agreed to pay an inmate $107,500 to settle his grievances over prison public records.

The settlement announced Friday resolves five cases brought by Derek Gronquist, a former inmate of the Airway Heights Corrections near Spokane. He currently is incarcerated at Stafford Creek Corrections Center.

Corrections officials say the department will pay Gronquist $79,000 to settle a 2001 public disclosure complaint over destruction of inmate grievance documents and another $22,500 for a second public records disclosure case in 2006.

The rest will go to settle litigation over a religious practices lawsuit and another, unrelated case.

Corrections Secretary Eldon Vail says the grievance documents were withheld out of concern for the safety of other inmates but were destroyed while litigation was pending.

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