By Randall Chase

Associated Press

DOVER, Del. — State officials have agreed to pay more than $7.5 million to settle a lawsuit stemming from an inmate riot at Delaware's maximum-security prison that left a correctional officer dead.

Under the settlement announced Friday, 11 plaintiffs, including six Department of Correction employees and relatives of slain officer Steven Floyd, will share $7.55 million.

This undated file photo provided by the Delaware Department of Correction shows Sgt. Steven Floyd. Floyd died in a February 2017 hostage standoff at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna, Delaware. (Delaware Department of Correction via AP, File)

In settling the lawsuit, state officials did not acknowledge any wrongdoing, and claims against individual current and former state officials were dismissed.

"For the reasons stated in our court filings, the claims against all of the individual defendants lacked legal merit," attorneys for the state said in a joint statement announcing the agreement. "All of the defendants wish to express, however, their condolences and respect."

Attorneys for the plaintiffs thanked law enforcement officials who responded to the Feb. 1 riot as well as members of the state correctional officers union for their support.

"The officers, employees and their families now hope to concentrate on emotional and physical healing," the plaintiffs' lawyers said in the statement.

The settlement comes a day after an amended complaint was filed to add a wrongful death claim against the Department of Correction and a month after attorneys asked the judge to postpone a hearing on the state's motions to dismiss the lawsuit.

Defendants in the suit included former Democratic Govs. Ruth Ann Minner and Jack Markell, Department of Correction Commissioner Perry Phelps and three of his predecessors, and current and former state budget directors. The plaintiffs alleged that state officials deliberately ignored security and staffing problems at James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Smyrna for years, leaving poorly trained and overworked correctional officers at risk.

An independent review ordered by Democratic Gov. John Carney, who took office two weeks before the uprising and was not named as a defendant, also found that prison administrators dismissed warnings of trouble brewing at the prison in the days leading up to the riot. Those warnings included recommendations from Floyd that certain inmates be removed from the housing unit where the riot later occurred.

Just days after Floyd made his recommendations, inmates took him and three other correctional workers hostage, setting off a nearly 20-hour standoff during which Floyd was killed. The siege ended when tactical teams used a backhoe to breach the building and rescue a female counselor. Two other guards had been released earlier after being tormented and beaten by inmates. Three other correctional workers locked themselves in a basement for hours before climbing to an attic and onto a roof, where they were rescued.

Eighteen inmates have been charged for their alleged roles in the riot, including 16 charged with first-degree murder in Floyd's death.