The family of a 46-year-old woman who died in the custody of a private East Texas jail has reached a $7 million settlement in what attorneys say is the largest known jail death settlement in the state's history and one of the largest reached nationwide over an in-custody death.

The case against LaSalle Corrections LLC and other defendants was brought by Mary Margaret Mathis and Michael Glenn Austin, the mother and widower of Holly Barlow-Austin. Erik Heipt of Budge & Heipt PLLC, who represents the family, said Thursday the details of the settlement agreement will remain confidential.

Heipt said in a statement he hoped the settlement "sends a powerful message to every single jail and prison in America."

"This type of blatant disregard for human life will not be tolerated," he said. "In particular, this outcome should serve as a wake-up call to all private jail and prison operators — not just in Texas, but everywhere: If you're going to cut corners and put profits over people's lives, there will be a steep price to pay."

Mathis and Austin said in a statement that what happened to Barlow-Austin was inexcusable and that they hope the settlement will lead to change.

"No one deserves to be treated the way they treated her," they said. "We wanted justice. We wanted to show that Holly's life mattered. And we wanted those responsible for mistreating her to be held accountable. With the help of our attorneys, we believe we achieved those goals."

A representative for LaSalle Corrections didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Mathis and Austin sued the jail in September 2020.

According to their complaint, Barlow-Austin was arrested on April 5, 2019, by Texarkana police for a probation violation and taken to the Bi-State Jail in Texarkana, which is run by LaSalle Corrections. She underwent a medical exam the next day, and jail staff faxed a request for information about her medical history to her outside provider, the complaint said.

The jail didn't receive a response until five weeks later and didn't follow up before then, according to the complaint. Barlow-Austin had conditions including depression, bipolar disorder, HIV and substance abuse, the suit said.

A few days after she was booked, Austin brought several of Barlow-Austin's prescription drugs to the jail, which alerted staff of her HIV-positive status, the complaint said. Even so, the jail did not give Barlow-Austin any medications until April 12, a week after her arrest.

While she was jail, her medication was not given to her regularly, and she "became predictably sick," the suit said. She visited a jail nurse several times, and her condition continued to decline over the next several weeks.

Jail staff at one point accused her of faking her illness, the suit said.

Austin visited his wife several times during her confinement, and she complained of worsening medical problems each time. Jail staff "refused" to address his concerns about his wife on multiple occasions, the suit said.

By early June 2019, Holly Barlow-Austin was unable to stand on her own or walk and went completely blind.

Around then, Barlow-Austin was placed in a medical observation cell, at one point being held there for nine hours without food, water or medical treatment. Her "serious medical needs are plainly evident" based on video footage, and she was held in filthy conditions without access to clean clothes or a shower, it says. Several video clips were included as evidence in the lawsuit.

Many times, jail nurses and other staff walked by Barlow-Austin's cell and either didn't look inside or ignored her when she yelled out for help or in pain, the complaint said. Jail staff also logged their state-mandated visual checks without looking inside her cell, as evidenced by video footage.

By June 10, "any lay person would've easily recognized that this poor woman needed emergency medical attention," as her appearance resembled "a starving prisoner of war," the complaint said.

That night, a nurse entered Barlow-Austin's cell for the first time in the 38 hours she had been in the cell. The check, which revealed abnormally high blood pressure, should have led to "an immediate 911 call," but the nurse instead left with no evidence indicating she reported her findings to a supervisor, according to the complaint.

"At that time, she was tachycardic and suffering from a hypertensive emergency," the suit said. "She was blind, mentally confused, disoriented, shaky, unsteady, and so physically incapacitated that she could barely crawl. Even then, she was not taken to the hospital for another ten hours. By the time LaSalle finally called 911, it was too late to save her life."

Barlow-Austin was taken to the hospital on June 11, 2019, hours after she was visited by a guard and an assistant warden. She died in the hospital on June 17.

"Even after a life-threatening infection rendered her blind and unable to walk, she was ignored by jail medical and corrections staff," Heipt said. "She spent the last week of her confinement in a so-called 'medical observation' cell — isolated and alone, in constant pain, blindly crawling around her cell, dehydrated and malnourished, living in filthy and inhumane conditions, decompensating — with no medical help."

He said several other people have died while in custody at LaSalle facilities, most notably in 2015 and 2016.

The family of Barlow-Austin is represented by Erik J. Heipt and Edwin S. Budge of Budge & Heipt PLLC and David Carty of Mercy Carter LLP.

The defendants are represented by M. Brent Hicks of Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC, Deirdre C. McGlinchey and Gregg D. Stevens of McGlinchey Stafford PLLC, Paul Miller and Troy Hornsby of Miller James Miller & Hornsby LLP and James L. Cook of Morgan Cook & Beck LLP.

The case is Mathis et al. v. Southwestern Correctional LLC et al., case number 5:20-cv-00146, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

--Editing by Brian Baresch.