Resource: Karl Taylor Died in a New York Prison. Now the State Has Agreed to Pay Millions.

In life, Karl Taylor never found his way. A high-school dropout hobbled by mental problems, he labored as a truck driver and kitchen helper in his hometown of Troy, New York, until a rape conviction sent him to prison for up to 55 years. Behind bars, his slippery grip on reality steadily worsened. He was in and out of psychiatric wards and spent more than 10 years in solitary confinement for failing to follow prison rules. That sorry cycle ended abruptly on April 13, 2015. A brutal fight erupted that morning between Taylor and correction officers after the prisoner refused an order to clean his cell at the maximum security prison in the Catskills where he was being held. Brought to the prison clinic, Taylor, 51, was soon declared dead.