The Minnesota Department of Corrections has agreed to a $400,000 settlement in a federal lawsuit over the death of a 27-year-old St. Paul man.

Xavius Scullark-Johnson suffered at least seven seizures in his prison cell through the night of June 28, 2010, and into the next morning at the Rush City prison. Nurses and correctional officers didn’t provide medical care for eight hours, and a nurse turned away an ambulance, the lawsuit said. Scullark-Johnson died June 30, 2010.

“Defendants’ deliberate indifference to Mr. Scullark-Johnson’s serious medical needs caused his death,” said the lawsuit, which named Corrections Department officers and nurses, along with Corizon Inc., a private company based in Tennessee that the state contracts with for medical services, and one of the firm’s doctors.

The Corizon part of the lawsuit is ongoing.

It is the largest settlement the Corrections Department has paid in a medical-negligence lawsuit in the past eight years, according to the department. The state defendants deny liability, the settlement agreement said.

“We take our charge to incarcerate offenders in a safe and secure manner very seriously, so the premature loss of life of offenders in our care and control always causes us great concern,” Corrections Commissioner Tom Roy said in a statement.

Olivia Scullark, Scullark-Johnson’s mother, filed the lawsuit in June. Her son, who was in prison for a probation violation, had a history of seizure disorders, which the department and its health care providers “were well aware of,” the lawsuit said. After the June 2010 seizures, he was declared brain dead and removed from life support.

“The conduct here was really horrendous, the way that someone who had serious medical needs was just ignored,” said Jordan Kushner, Scullark’s attorney.

A nurse was suspended for five days without pay for failing to follow emergency medical procedures, according to John Schadl, a Corrections Department spokesman.

The department reviews its performance, policies and procedures after every critical incident. As a result of the Scullark-Johnson case, the department has started working with the Epilepsy Foundation of Minnesota to increase training for correctional officers on how to recognize and respond to seizures, Schadl said.

The department also has revised its procedures to ensure information is better communicated from one shift to the next, he said.

Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262. Follow her at twitter.com/MaraGottfried or twitter.com/ppUsualSuspects.