WA to pay $4.5M to family of man who died from cancer in prison
The state has agreed to pay $4.5 million to the estate of a 69-year-old man who died from bladder cancer while incarcerated at Stafford Creek Corrections Center, according to attorneys.
The death of Gordon Crockett on Oct. 10, 2023, and subsequent payout is the latest in a string of litigation and settled lawsuits stemming from the Department of Corrections' alleged failure to diagnose and treat cancer patients.
Crockett, who was in prison for first-degree murder, suffered from symptoms of bladder cancer for nearly two years before officials diagnosed the disease and found it had spread to his spine.
DOC never provided Mr. Crockett with timely anti-cancer treatment," according to a lawsuit filed last year. "If not for DOC's negligent acts, Mr. Crockett would have survived to see his release from prison."
The lawsuit notes that Crockett was the father of four children and was less than a year from release.
Crockett's death occurred despite a critical 2021 review of prison healthcare and cancer deaths by the state corrections ombuds, which reviewed 11 cases in which treatment was delayed or nonexistent, some leading to people's deaths.
For instance, in 2024, the state paid a $9.9 million settlement to a woman whose cervical cancer grew terminal as prison doctors failed to diagnosis and treat the disease. In 2022, the state paid $3.75 million to the family of a man who died at the Monroe prison after his cancer went untreated despite his urgent pleas. And last year, the state paid $6 million to the family of a man who died of liver cancer, also at the Monroe prison.
"The Department of Corrections has known for years that its approach to diagnosing and treating cancer in prison is ineffective," said Crockett's Seattle attorney, Dan Fiorito III. "And Gordon Crockett is one more person who paid for that with his life."
According to court documents, Crockett sought medical attention with classic symptoms of bladder cancer beginning in March 2021, including urinary frequency, pain on urination, and intermittent lower urinary tract symptoms.
By February 2022, medical records documented moderate to large amounts of blood in his urine on multiple occasions. Despite this, prison healthcare providers attributed his symptoms to benign prostate enlargement and failed to refer him to a urological specialist for months.
In October 2022, when imaging finally revealed a bladder mass "concerning for transitional cell carcinoma," it took nearly three more months to get him a cystoscopy. By the time cancer was diagnosed in January 2023, Crockett was suffering back pain caused by the cancer, which had spread to his spine.
"Mr. Crockett endured months of excruciating metastatic spinal pain, underwent emergency spinal surgery … and developed a postoperative septic spinal wound infection, contracted hospital-acquired pneumonia, and died in palliative care.
"All of this suffering should have been prevented," Fiorito said. "With timely diagnosis and treatment, he would more likely than not have lived at least another five years," Fiorito said, adding that Crockett had specific plans to live with his daughter and help care for her three young children.
Fiorito said a prison mortality review committee identified "systemic failures," including the focus on prostate enlargement and, once cancer was suspected, delays in its treatment.
"The DOC's own committee admitted that its systems and providers failed catastrophically, turning a curable cancer into a death sentence, Fiorito said.
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This story was originally published May 6, 2026 at 4:48 PM.