A lawsuit has been settled that was started by the parents of an inmate at the former State Correctional Institution at Cresson who died by suicide in 2012. The $675,000 settlement against authorities of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections comes almost 9 years after the death of 23 year old Brandon Palakovic of Perry County, who was found dead in his cell. In 2014, his parents filed a federal lawsuit, contending that the state had violated Brandon’s civil right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. The lawsuit was dismissed twice before the Palakovics were permitted in an appeals court ruling, to move forward with their complaint. For the past three years, it has been working its way thru the court system, and only recently did both sides begin to reach settlement discussions.
