Former prisoner awarded Sh75 million after suffering permanent damages to his manhood

Manhattan, USA: A former prisoner who suffered a six-day erection while in solitary confinement has been awarded Sh75 million in compensation.

Rodney Cotton, 50, was left with permanent injuries to his penis after prison guards failed to take his pleas for help seriously.

Cotton, from Brooklyn, was given antidepressant Risperdal while locked up at the Manhattan Detention Complex for violating his parole in July 2011, according to documents seen by the New York Daily News.

The medication, prescribed by the prison infirmary, produced a painful erection which lasted six days.

Cotton filed a $10m (£640m) lawsuit against the city, the Department of Corrections and the city Health and Hospitals Corporation in 2012.

The lawsuit claims Cotton suffered “permanent injuries to his penis” and "loss of function” due to the medical malpractice of doctors and guards who ignored his pleas for help.

The suit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, says Cotton was left in agony and had difficulty walking but was simply left in solitary confinement with an ice pack and ineffective painkillers.

He was eventually sent to Bellevue Hospital for emergency surgery after the Independence Day long weekend in 2011.

The ex-con received a settlement of $750,000 (£480,000) on Monday, the eve of his trial.

Nicholas Paolucci, a spokesman for the city Law Department, told the Daily News: "Settling the case was in the best interest of the city."

Cotton initially served two-and-a-half years behind bars in 2008 for illegally possessing Vicodin.

He was jailed again in June 2011 for violating his parole by flipping a car.