Courtney Crosby said her dad, Craig Crosby, was a ball of energy, “always laughing and joking around, really social and charismatic.” 

He often called his friends “boss,” she said. He liked to make other people smile. And after the 55-year-old began a short prison sentence in Nevada’s High Desert State Prison last October, he instructed his four children not to worry about him. 

But his health declined soon after entering prison, Courtney said. In January, his toe was amputated. On March 6, 2025, Crosby called to wish one of his children a happy birthday and reported that he was “in extreme pain” and felt like he was having a heart attack. 

Crosby died nine days later. 

Lawyers for Crosby’s family did not disclose a cause of death, but legal records indicate that at the time of his passing, Crosby was suffering from stomach bleeding, a throat infection and sepsis. 

Earlier this month, Crosby’s ex-wife and four children filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Nevada Department of Corrections (NDOC) in federal court, alleging that correctional employees were “deliberately indifferent to Mr. Crosby’s serious medical needs.”

The lawsuit argues that NDOC employees failed to provide him medication for his Type 2 diabetes or treat his foot injury — which eventually required his toe to be amputated in January, an outcome the lawsuit described as avoidable.

After Crosby’s toe was amputated, his health rapidly declined. NDOC medical practitioners “observed this deterioration and failed to act,” the lawsuit claims. Cristina Valentine, a lawyer for the family, told The Indy in a statement that “inadequate medical care caused his death and caused him to suffer significantly leading up to his death.”

NDOC spokesperson Teri Vance declined to comment on the specifics of the case but told The Indy in a statement, “The safety of staff and offenders is the top priority of the Nevada Department of Corrections and High Desert State Prison.” 

Originally from New Jersey, Crosby worked in casino management and was living in Las Vegas at the time of his arrest for a third driving under the influence (DUI) offense, a felony in Nevada if the offenses all occur within seven years. In October 2024, Crosby was sentenced to 12 to 30 months in prison but was eligible for parole in June 2025.

In prison, the lawsuit alleges, NDOC staff overlooked Crosby’s health issues. 

He suffered a toe injury in November 2024 that a prison doctor marked as “urgent” in December. Courtney Crosby said the injury may have been a side effect of his Type 2 diabetes, a condition he was successfully managing before entering prison. After entering High Desert, Crosby often reported to his daughter that the prison had sent his diabetes medicine late or delivered the wrong medicine. 

Crosby was not sent for a podiatry appointment until January — 50 days after the “urgent” referral request was made in early December. The lawsuit argues that during this delay, “Mr. Crosby’s toe became so painful and infected that he was unable to walk and engage in his usual daily life activities.” 

A podiatrist deemed the infection so severe that Crosby was sent to Las Vegas’ Southern Hills Hospital, where his toe was amputated in late January. The amputation “could have been prevented had medical care not been denied or delayed,” the lawsuit claims.

After his release from Southern Hills in mid-February, the lawsuit alleges that NDOC staff continued to neglect Crosby’s medical issues. The hospital prescribed Crosby a blood thinning medication, but when he returned to High Desert, NDOC Medical Director Kenneth Williams swapped the prescription out for a different blood thinner. The lawsuit claims “NDOC medical providers were unable or unlikely to… provide the monitoring and management necessary” to administer the substitute medication. 

Crosby’s medical decline continued, with the lawsuit alleging that NDOC employees’ “deliberate indifference” culminated in Crosby’s March 2025 death. 

Crosby was one of 67 incarcerated individuals to die in NDOC facilities so far this year, according to state data — a steady increase from the 55 prisoner deaths in 2024 and 46 in 2023. State prison officials have pointed to skyrocketing overdoses as part of the reason for more deaths in custody.

Of the deaths this year, 16 — or roughly one in every four — occurred at High Desert State Prison, where Crosby was detained. Another High Desert prisoner, a 36-year-old man named Montana Munday, died of suicide on March 14, the day before Crosby’s death. 

The Crosby family lawsuit argues that NDOC authorities have turned a blind eye to “ongoing failures to provide basic and necessary medical care to incarcerated individuals” at High Desert State Prison.

NDOC has agreed to pay out millions of dollars in settlements as part of several recent wrongful death lawsuits. In October, the state reached a $4.6 million settlement with the family of an incarcerated individual who was allegedly beaten to death by High Desert correctional officers. 

Pending wrongful death lawsuits include two filed this August and September, for prisoner deaths that occurred at High Desert in August 2023 and November 2024, respectively. 

NDOC representatives did not immediately respond to The Indy’s inquiry about the number of wrongful death lawsuits filed so far this year.

Crosby said that she is hopeful that the lawsuit concerning her father’s death, which she described as “the worst thing that’s ever happened” to her, will help raise awareness and prevent similar deaths in the future.

“I want my dad back, but I can’t have that,” Courtney said. “So at least I want accountability and change for people.”