Cuyahoga County Pays Former Nursing Director Fired After Speaking Out on Jail Issues $99,000 Settlement

Cuyahoga County has reached a $99,000 settlement with Gary Brack, the former nursing director at the Cuyahoga County jail who was fired in May 2018 by Armond Budish after speaking at a county council meeting in which he critized jail leadership for blocking the hiring of nurses during a time when the jail was operating an "inhumane" operation during the course of a year when nine inmates died while in custody.

In 2019 he sued both the county and MetroHealth, the provider of healthcare in the facility, for wrongful termination. He has recently sought to dismiss the claim against Metro.

"Nurse Brack is relieved that he is on the road to putting the unfortunate way he was mistreated behind him and hopes policymakers will heed the lesson to listen to whistleblowers and not retaliate against them," Brack's attorney Subodh Chandra told Scene in a statement. "Nine inmates died who should not have. If they don't learn from that to listen to and respect those sounding the alarm, he doesn't know what will move them to act responsibly."

The settlement was first reported by Cleveland.com.

Brack, who testified in the trial of former jail director Ken Mills this year, was removed from his job at the request of Armond Budish.

His comments at the meeting, which helped bring the catastrophic conditions of the county jail to light, created a "lack of trust," a county spokesperson told Scene at the time.