One year later, still no justice: Family of Newton Correctional Facility inmate who died is suing state

Editor’s note: One year ago, a young inmate died at Newton Correctional Facility just months before he was set to be released. His family in Storm Lake is suing the state, saying his death could have been prevented had the prison taken his pleas for help seriously and provided him the medical attention he needed.

Malga Yanga complained of intense stomach pain so severe that he had to be transported to the medical wing of Newton Correctional Facility in a wheelchair. He was given a bottle of Gatorade and a warning: If you complain again, then you’re going to the hole. The pain persisted, yet he did as he was told.

The 23-year-old was found dead in a pool of his own blood and vomit inside his cell soon after. Emergency responders were called to the scene while the prison was placed on lockdown. Life-saving procedures were unsuccessful. Time of death was 6:06 a.m. Sept. 4, 2024, but it is likely he was dead well before then.

Autopsy results show Malga died of bowel perforation and peritonitis caused by a stomach ulcer. To this day, Malga’s parents have never been contacted by the Newton prison nor the Iowa Department of Corrections about his death. Officials never reached out to offer condolences or provide a narrative of what happened.

Instead, the prison kept silent and did not divulge any information, so the family had to learn of Malga’s death from a friend who still had a contact within the prison. Information from the inside got leaked to a friend, who immediately called Malga’s girlfriend, who then reached out to the family.

It was 9 o’clock in the morning — three hours after his death — when Malga’s sister, Phoebe Harun, started getting the distressing phone calls. They said her brother was dead. She looked up the prison’s phone number herself to call and confirm. Staff had no answers. They told her to leave a message.

“They got back to me around 10 a.m. to confirm that he did pass,” she said.

When they asked the prison about why they were not contacted sooner or more directly, they said staff could not comment or told them to leave a message with someone higher up, presumably the warden. Even getting Malga’s belongings to the family took weeks. The family said the prison had the wrong address.

It was frustrating, to say the least.

Iowa Department of Corrections waited a day before providing a news release or information of any kind, and it, too, was vague. In a release sent to subscribers of the department’s email listings, it revealed a name, an age, a time of death and that he was serving a life special sentence from Buena Vista County.

Newton News filed an open records request for the 911 call recording the day Malga died. The call was made around 5:30 a.m. The caller told dispatchers Malga was unresponsive and not breathing. He also noted CPR had been started and that an automated external defibrillator was deployed.

Before the family had a chance to see the body, the state performed an autopsy.

Two weeks after his death, the family was able to hold a funeral. The Mabaan community showed up in stride to pay their respects. Tawfiq Tongo, Malga’s uncle, said some people had travelled great distances. Malga was buried in Storm Lake Cemetery. Despite the celebrations of life, the family is devastated.

“The family are looking for justice,” Tawfiq said. “They want to know: Was Malga not a human being? How come they never considered to call the family? …What it seems like is they neglected Malga. They never gave him proper medical attention. For a young, 23-year-old to die like that is not OK. It will never be OK.”

HE WAS GOING TO BE REUNITED WITH HIS FAMILY

Malga was to be released in just more than two months. He was going to move back with his family in Storm Lake, find a job and live as best he could. He even talked about moving to Alaska with his cousin, but they were unsure if his life special sentence, essentially lifetime parole, would allow that. But he was hopeful.

Harun Malga, his father, was one of the last family members to speak with him. They talked over the phone about how Malga could go back to playing basketball and improving his game when he gets released, all the while looking for other opportunities to compete with an abroad team; if such opportunities existed.

Three days after their phone call, Harun’s son was dead. In their conversations, Malga had never mentioned feeling any kind of gut pain or discomfort, but he also avoided talking about his incarceration with his loved ones, whom he frequently communicated with. The family was united in their love for Malga.

Phoebe recalled her parents visiting him a number of times, including mother Sarah Nimir. He called a lot, and he personally reached out to individual family members about every Friday. Sometimes they would talk to him two times a week. If someone didn’t answer he’d call the next person.

“Or he’d do a group call,” cousin Lidya Mulgae said. “We are pretty close … We’d pretty much talk about anything. Just normal conversations like you and your family members … Obviously, we always asked, ‘Is anything wrong? Are you OK? Do you need anything?’”

‘Sup, Big Head! I’m doing good. I’ll be out in no time. I can’t wait to see all you.

He never gave them any indication that he was feeling sick or ill. Lidya said she felt blindsided when she heard that he had died and that he had felt unwell.

“We didn’t really know what was going on, so it just kind of came out of nowhere,” Lidya said. “He was perfectly fine and I feel like me and my brother, Titus, had spoken to him before all that stuff happened. It was just kinda crazy when we heard about it. I don’t know. It just irritates me.”

For all the times his cousins and siblings spoke with him, their last conversations with him over the phone seemed ordinary. Nothing felt different about him.

“He had the same energy,” Lidya said.

HE WAS HEALTHY AND FIT AND HAD NO MAJOR HEALTH ISSUES

Malga’s family originates from South Sudan. They are Mabaan, an ethnic group that has a strong presence in parts of Iowa. Storm Lake is home to one of the largest Mabaan populations in the state. Malga was born in Omaha, but his parents moved to Iowa in 2010. He was around 8 years old at the time.

“He’s goofy,” Lidya said of her cousin, who would often jokingly refer to his cousins as big heads. “He kind of lit up a room when he walked into one, and he was very loud. He’d usually take his big hands and say, ‘Look! My hand is bigger than your head’ or something. He was very playful.”

Malga went to Storm Lake High School. Phoebe said he was a typical student but wasn’t a big fan of school. He went to his classes and made sure to keep his grades up to par so that he could still play on the school’s varsity basketball team. He loved basketball, Phoebe said.

In his senior year, the Storm Lake Tornadoes finished their 3A season with an overall record of 15-7 and a conference record of 9-5. The team was ranked 47th in the state and 13th in state division. Individually, he shined as a shooting guard, scoring 264 points in the 2018-19 season, the third highest on the team.

Highlight reels on his Hudl page emphasize his athletic strengths even further. His six-foot-three frame meant he not only could dunk the ball, he was also an efficient blocker. In fact, he led the team in blocks both years he played varsity. His family said he had aspirations to play for Iowa State University.

“He was supposed to even play overseas,” sister Phoebe said. “I think Australia? Somewhere out of the country he was looking into that.”

His cousin, David Mulgae, said, “He did a lot. Everybody loved him. When he was on the court, he had the team on his back. This kid was—He was the best.”

When he wasn’t playing basketball in real life, he was playing it virtually with his cousin Titus Mulgae. He was an avid fan of the NBA 2K series, just like any other high school boy his age. He was active and fit. Other than a mild case of asthma, he never experienced any severe medical issues growing up.

Which made his death all the more tragic for the family, who questioned how a healthy 23-year-old complaining of intense stomach pain never caused any alarm or raised concerns with the medical staff at Newton Correctional Facility. Instead, they were skeptical and almost annoyed with Malga’s pleas.

The family and their attorneys call it by another name: negligence.

HE HAS A CASE

Hamilton Law Firm, P.C. is representing the family in its tort case against the State of Iowa. Founded in 1876, it is one of the oldest family-owned law firms in the state, holding offices in Des Moines, Sioux City and Storm Lake. Its attorneys specialize in personal injury law, but they also pursue wrongful death cases.

Molly Hamilton, a fifth-generation attorney at Hamilton Law, said when someone brings any type of lawsuit against a state entity or state employee, the plaintiffs have to give them notice via the tort claim process. There are a number of claims that could arise out of this specific case.

“At this point we’ve just filed a tort claim,” Molly said. “A lot of it is based on the medical care that he was given — or, actually, not given.”

From what Hamilton Law has uncovered, there was documentation over about a week’s period related to the stomach pain. No physician was involved in the first few days Malga complained of these aches. By the time physicians did get involved, Molly alleged they were not physically evaluating him.

“Again, the care really consisted of Gatorade, which is some acknowledgement that they felt he was dehydrated,” she said. “But he was dehydrated because he had been vomiting for days and days on end.”

The physician on staff at Newton Correctional Facility at the time was Dr. Nicholas Kuiper, whose specialty was general surgery many years ago. However, in 2023, he was accused of incompetence and ethics violations, according to an article published by Iowa Capital Dispatch’s Clark Kauffman.

Kauffman’s reporting pointed out that Kuiper was once barred from practicing in Iowa, and he was eventually issued a warning by the Iowa Board of Medicine.

The board alleged he prescribed controlled substances to co-workers without establishing a physician-patient relationship and that he demonstrated evidence of professional incompetency in his treatment of numerous patients back in 2018. Iowa Capital Dispatch reported that Kuiper agreed to a warning and citation.

The article also mentions Kuiper was placed on a five-year probation, which Molly said was still active by the time he evaluated Malga.

“He had a number of conditions that he needed to meet,” Molly said of Kuiper’s probation. “He was to be supervised by another physician and if he was truly on staff here at Newton then he was practicing in more of a primary care capacity, where he had never had a residency in that and never practiced in that area.”

In her opinion, Molly does not believe Kuiper was qualified to treat and oversee the health and welfare of inmates at Newton Correctional Facility.

“Malga presented these complaints early on; they went on over a number of days,” Molly said. “There was plenty of time for them to intervene and to do surgery, to have a proper evaluation much earlier than what had occurred. There’s no reason for Malga to have died.”

HE WAS IN INTENSE PAIN & HE WAS IGNORED

Under the condition they remain anonymous, sources have told Newton News the accounts leading to Malga’s death, including the instances where medical staff gave him a bottle of Gatorade to treat his dehydration and the threat that he would be punished if he complained again. The family recounted similar stories.

David said, “He was really sick and he went to try and get attention from the nurses and stuff, and they told him he’s doing too much and that he needs to settle down or they’re going to throw him in the hole.”

“His pain got so bad,” Lidya said. “He couldn’t even walk and he had to be wheelchaired around the entire facility. And he kept asking, ‘Can you wheel me to the nurses?’ And the nurses would just say he’s being annoying.”

Anny Mulgae, a cousin the same age as Malga, is one member of the family who knows exactly how much pain he was in, because she also had an ulcer in her colon. She recalled that she needed emergency surgery as soon as she got to the hospital. It was one of the most painful experiences of her life.

“As soon as you get that perforated (bowel) pain, you get bloated and you start feeling sick and you can’t eat,” Anny said. “I couldn’t eat for the whole day, and I woke up in pain. It felt like a sharp — like someone was stabbing me on the side of my stomach. Immediately, I was rushed to the hospital.”

Doctors told her if she throws up they need to get her into surgery. She threw up, and she was rushed to surgery. Malga threw up, and he died in his cell.

Tawfiq said, “The immediate time a patient throws up, that’s the time for surgery. How come the same thing was not upheld to Malga?”

As for the Gatorade, Tawfiq scoffs at the idea of the beverage solving anything. Malga didn’t need a Gatorade, he said, he needed medical attention.

HE WAS SERVING HIS SENTENCE AFTER LOSING STRUCTURE

Following his graduation in 2019, Malga was arrested. The Sioux City Journal reported that he and another teenager pointed a rifle at and demanded money from a victim. They then threatened to kill the victim. Police arrested Malga and the other teen and found they had been in possession of a paintball gun.

Newton News was told by those close to Malga that the school and a staff members had provided him the structure he needed to stay out of trouble and keep on the right path. Malga and a group of friends had been suspected of going around Storm Lake breaking into cars and trying to steal items from them.

While police were investigating these alleged crimes, they seized suspect cellphones. Officers found a video of a party where Malga and a female victim engaged in a sex act. Reports say the girl was unconscious. Sources say there was alcohol involved. Either way, there was a lack of consent.

By 2020, Malga was sentenced to 10 years for third-degree sexual abuse and first-degree harassment. He pled guilty to his crimes and was given a lifetime special sex offender sentence, forcing him to be put on parole after fulfilling his time in prison. He would also be on the Iowa Sex Offender Registry.

The family makes no excuses for the crimes Malga was convicted of, but he was serving his sentence like he was supposed to. Despite being called a “correctional facility,” the family argued the prison is not correcting anything by letting people die or ignoring their cries for help.

“They want them to be rehabilitated, but it appears there is no rehabilitation in the state,” Tawfiq said. “People are losing their lives. Now it leaves an impression that if a relative is taken to Newton Correctional Facility, there’s a chance they might not come back. So this needs to be corrected.”

HE RECEIVED SECOND-CLASS TREATMENT

English is a second language for Malga’s father and mother. When Newton News interviewed them, their responses were interpreted through Tawfiq. Harun, the father, demanded accountability from the prison, and he was disturbed by the state not letting the family see Malga’s body for the autopsy.

Sarah spoke of her frustration and her anger as a mother. She said she could have accepted the lack of communication from the state if she had been overseas. But she lives in the same state, less than a three-hour drive away. Through tears, she explained how she had been overwhelmed by Malga’s death.

Harun understands that when people go to jail, their lives are now under control of the state; but that does not give the state the license to abuse, marginalize or neglect its inmates. He fears his son was neglected because his parents were immigrants, and therefore people who may not understand the system.

If they do not understand the system, then they won’t complain or stand up for their rights. The family speculates that this could have been a reason why Malga was not given proper medical attention and why communications between the prison and his parents were so poor.

Steve Hamilton, of Hamilton Law Firm, suggested it is not uncommon for inmates to get second-class treatment. If a non-incarcerated individual were to go to a doctor and ask them for help, they would likely be taken at their word. If an inmate does it, Steve said staff assume he or she is “manipulating the system.”

Until there is significant medical proof otherwise, Steve suggested medical treatment for inmates can be delayed. But even then, Lydia said Malga showed significant medical proof that his affliction was genuine. He couldn’t stand up and walk on his own; he needed a wheelchair. The signs were there.

“Why didn’t they just take him to the hospital? Or, you know, call an ambulance and let them take him,” Lydia said. “…It just makes no sense.”

Steve called the death a “terrible injustice.”

Malga’s cousins want to know why staff threatened a punishment of solitary confinement if he asked for help again. They questioned whether Newton Correctional Facility really cares about its inmates, and they wonder if all the inmates get the same treatment as Malga.

“I feel like you hear a lot of bad things about the Newton Correctional Facility,” Lidya said. “How come the State of Iowa isn’t doing anything about it?”

In Tawfiq’s opinion, this behavior speaks of bad leadership from state officials trickling down to its institutions. People in leadership, he suggested, need to be able to take control and respond appropriately to issues that arise. If a seemingly healthy inmate dies on their watch, Tawfiq said that might just ring a bell to fix it.

“Malga’s death may not be the last,” he said.

HIS FAMILY WANTS ACCOUNTABILITY & JUSTICE

As of this earlier summer, Molly said the lawsuit is still under review by the state’s tort claims committee. When someone files a tort claim against a state or federal entity, individuals must fill out a form and provide supporting evidence or records that uphold their claims.

The committee is supposed to investigate the tort and decide whether it has merit. From Molly’s experience filing forms to the state, she often gets no response. The State Appeal Board and the committee can choose to not respond, but after six months attorneys can retrieve their claim and file it in court.

“I don’t expect them to make a decision before then,” Molly said in a follow-up with Newton News back in June. “The law that lays out state tort claims lays out a timeframe of how long you have to file in court and the different time limitations and things like that. So that’s kind of what the state tort claim is all about.”

The family wants justice. Tawfiq said Malga’s mother and father and siblings want Newton Correctional Facility to change its ways.

“It is really hard on them because this is one of their two sons,” Tawfiq said. “For him to leave before them, it is not good. It’s always said that parents should go before their kids. So this is hard on them. They want justice for their son … They want accountability. Somebody has to take accountability for what you did.”

The staff and the facilities they serve in are supported by taxpayer dollars. It is Molly’s personal belief that people are responsible in a legal and moral sense for how they treat one another.

“The point of prison and the judicial system is rehabilitation,” Molly said. “Most of these individuals — including Malga — are not serving life sentences. So they are supposed to be rehabilitated and sent out into the world … To deny them basic medical care, basic humanity, how are you rehabilitating that person?”

Malga’s father wants accountability. Malga’s mother is angry and frustrated that the prison never called her to let her know her son had died.

“How come they never called me when I live in the same state as Malga? I am not somewhere overseas. I would have accepted them not calling me if I was overseas. But I’m here,” she said through an interpreter. “How come they didn’t reach out to me? This is my frustration, anger and disappointment as a mother.”

David wants to know why they were going to throw him in the hole for being in pain. Malga was asking for help. Lidya wants to know if Newton Correctional Facility actually cares about its inmates or if all the other inmates get the same treatment. “What’s really going on?” David said. “Because this is not right.”

Tawfiq puts it bluntly: Newton Correctional Facility neglected Malga and undermined his pain. Without any change, other families will suffer.

“Somebody has to take accountability for Malga’s death,” Tawfiq said. “He’s a healthy 23-year-old, who was one to two months away from being released. To die in such a mysterious death is unheard of, uncalled for. The family, they are saying that they are not doing this only for Malga but to prevent future deaths.”