CHICAGO (AP) - A former street gang member sentenced for murder is among the Illinois inmates a new report cites in concluding medical care at state prisons is inadequate.
The report was filed late Tuesday in a civil suit against the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Criminal records say Edward Thomas threw the victim head first down a Chicago elevator shaft. He was serving an 80-year murder sentence at Galesburg’s Hill Correctional Center.
The report says Thomas complained for six months before doctors found a softball-size cancerous tumor. The 48-year-old died four months later on Jan. 30, 2013.
The report says Thomas was “brushed off” despite “obvious” symptoms.
The report doesn’t give Thomas’ name. But a coroner confirmed to The Associated Press that Thomas was the inmate who died that day.
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