Mother of man who died after an assault in Philadelphia’s federal detention center sues the U.S. government

The mother of a 31-year-old man who died following an assault in the Federal Detention Center of Philadelphia filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the U.S. government alleging the attack could have been prevented.

Cynthia Santiago, the mother of Kevante Washington, says that she is still waiting for answers and for her son’s alleged assailant to be held accountable, a year and a half after Washington’s death in March 2023.

Washington was assaulted in his cell on March 10, 2023, while serving a sentence for drug and firearms charges at the federal prison on Arch Street. He arrived at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital with injuries throughout his body, according to the lawsuit, including facial fractures, damage to organs in his abdomen, and lacerations of his anus. He died at the hospital the next day.

Washington’s cellmate had a violent past, the mother’s attorney said, including previously stabbing a person while incarcerated at the Center City detention center. No one, including the cellmate, has been charged with any crimes related to Washington’s assault.

The federal lawsuit, filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, claims prison officials put Washington at “excessive risk” with his cell arrangement. The complaint also says that the prison was understaffed, and that staff ignored Washington’s concerns about his safety.

“It should not have happened,” Santiago said during a Thursday news conference at her lawyer’s office. “We deserve answers.”

The Federal Bureau of Prisons said that the agency does not comment on pending litigation. The U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment.

Washington was arrested in 2016 and pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal counts of conspiracy to distribute heroin and illegal possession of a firearm. He was sentenced to eight years in prison. The father of three from Wilmington wrote a letter to the judge at sentencing saying that he wanted to turn his life around, and not follow his father’s path by spending his children’s lives in prison.

“I don’t wanna be a ‘repeat,’” he wrote in the letter, which was obtained by the News Journal.

In winter 2023, Washington was a few months away from completing his eight-year sentence and was living in a work-release facility in North Philadelphia, said Emeka Igwe of the Igwe Firm, who represents the family. He raised concerns about his personal security and in early March was transferred to the protective unit at the detention center, where he was assaulted.

“The ironic thing about this was he was put in this protective unit for his own safety,” Igwe said.