GRAND RAPIDS – (WTVB) – The family of a man who died from a drug overdose in January of 2017 at the Lakeland Correctional Facility near Coldwater has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit
WILX-TV in Lansing reports Seth Zakora’s family claims in the suit filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan that he got the drugs thanks to a smuggling ring involving State Department of Corrections employees and the Michigan State Police.
Zakora was serving a sentence of three to 22 years at the time of his death for an Eaton County sexual assault.
According to WILX-TV, the lawsuit states that guards did not check on Zakora on the night he died after another inmate asked them to because it appeared something was wrong with him.
Zakora’s family said he died from a fentanyl overdose.
It was reported at the time of Zakora’s death that authorities found a suboxone strip in the cell of one of three prisoners who overdosed in one weekend.
