At the start of the pandemic, government officials and justice systems across the U.S. scrambled to reduce inmate populations and make pretrial release accessible to more criminal defendants. The national average is 1.46 deaths per 1,000 inmates. Donate to The Frontier to support local independent investigative journalism. Founder, publisher, and editor of Oklahoma City Free Press. Outside of hourly sight checks, medication and meal deliveries, prisoners at the Oklahoma County Detention Center are mostly alone in their housing units without direct supervision. He died from his injuries July 11; On July 2, Corey McMichael died at an OKC hospital after being transported there from the jails medical unit because he was experiencing health related issues. McMichael, 46, had been in the jail since Aug. 7 of last year; Inmate Melvin Loveless, 44, died by suicide in his cell on June 22 and was found by staff. Many of the dead were discovered unresponsive by staff making routine rounds. 3:06. That suit cost the county $1.1 million. . The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has also contributed to the staffing shortages, he said. Emergency responders declared Taylor at the scene. May 17, 2021. The Department of Justice called on Oklahoma County to fix the locks in 2008 but it wasnt until 2019 that the Oklahoma County Sheriffs Office spent $1 million to install new locking mechanisms on about a third of the jails 1,200 cells. Andy Ngo reports for the Post Millenial that "so far, six Antifa defendants took plea deals over their role in the attack and are awaiting sentencing. Nationwide, there were 1,120 deaths reported, or a rate of 154 deaths per 100,000 people in jail, the highest levels since BJS' first report on this topic in 2000. There's little disagreement about the jail's state. The Oklahoma County Detention Center has struggled for decades with inadequate funding and staffing shortages. TPD has opened an investigation into her death, Tuell said. His family sued the Oklahoma Department of Corrections a year later, claiming that prison staff failed to prevent his death. What happened: Tharp was unconscious so someone performed CPR on him, according to a jail incident report. Brewer clenched a pair of handcuffs in his fist as he delivered blows to the mans head, prosecutors allege. Brewer beat her before spraying her face and torso with pepper spray as she lay naked on the floor of the shower in a fetal position, according to the womans account. February 27, 2023 (96 years old) View obituary. We lost another human being. But it isnt possible without your support. We hope to uncover more about how and why people die in Oklahoma jails. Cause and manner of death: The state Medical Examiner determined Austin died from complications of lung disease. He was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. County jail administrators address inmate death, jail conditions. The outcome of Thorps multi-county grand jury investigation remains unknown, but criminal indictments for those involved in the jails operation and management could be possible. Knox had been in custody since July in lieu of a $10,000 bond for failing to make a court appearance in January. If the nations jails are able to sustain low populations in a post-pandemic world, experts predict inmate deaths and mortality rates will also decrease. Officials did not provide the cause of his death. Many U.S. jail inmates remain incarcerated because they cannot afford cash bail. Despite efforts by staff to revive him, Moore was pronounced dead. Christa Sullivan suffered undisclosed health issues and was under suicide watch when jail staff saw her arm go limp Tuesday night and called medical personnel . For the staff that we have today, we have zero tolerance of any kind of hands-on force on the detainees, Everest said. The detention officer immediately began CPR and called for medical assistance and other personnel. Guthries health started to deteriorate later that day and he was again transported to a hospital where he died, according to KTUL. COVID-19 cases at jail surge. He was transported to Alliance Health Midwest hospital, where he was pronounced dead a few hours later. An inmate death at the Oklahoma County Detention Center leaves a lot of unanswered questions for family members. In the 19 months since January 2021, records indicate 26 inmates have died more than one-third of the total from the 10 previous years. Oldham had Lanes name tattooed on her arm after he died. More: Oklahoma County detention officer fired after jail suicide. The U.S. Army veteran had disclosed her post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression to jail staff, but was not being held in a mental health ward of the jail. OKLAHOMA CITY ( Free Press) Thursday, the death of a detainee in the Oklahoma County Detention Center or Jail was the ninth for the facility in 2021. Nonetheless, on Monday, at a monthly meeting of the jail trust, which oversees the facility, attorney Paula Williams painted an optimistic picture of the DOJ visit. Jail administrator Greg Williams and officials for the public trust that oversees the jail says they have had no contact with the Department of Justice since it took control of the facility in July 2020. About 30 minutes later, Reagan appeared to again have a seizure. Smith led the special litigation section of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice from 2010 to 2015. Though not involved in the investigation, Prater continues to be shocked by the number of deaths at the jail. 139 talking about this. Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater is one county official who has little faith in Greg Williams or the jail trust. Outside of hourly sight checks and meal deliveries, the men were mostly left alone on the pod, he said. The prisoner needed 12 staples in his scalp to close the wounds, according to court documents. Jail surveillance video shows Bishop outside his cell for recreation between 9:25 and 10:55 p.m. on Tuesday, the release states. Earlier this summer, an inmate sued the county and jail trust over bed bugs. Most recently, Oklahoma County settled a lawsuit with the estate of Charlton Chrisman, who died in 2017 after officers shot pepper balls at him from close range. A detention officer serving breakfast was alerted to an unresponsive detainee inside a cell Wednesday morning, according to the news release. These can include Oklahoma County death certificates, local and Oklahoma State death registries, and the National Death Index. They are chronically understaffed, and I believe the trust has been dishonest about their staffing levels. By the time detention officers arrived nearly an hour . Tweet Basco was in custody facing drug charges at the time. A jail blanket was attached to the cell door and wrapped around his neck. Typically when someone dies in the jail, family members will seek litigation, which is completely their right, Blumert said. Lane wore a walking boot after he broke his leg in a motorcycle accident. An incarcerated person is three times more likely to attempt suicide than someone on the outside. What that does for the county is we typically have to hire outside counsel, and if we have to settle a case, which we sometimes do, we are spending tax dollars on that when we are found liable., (Correction: This article was updated at 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4, to correct the age of Andrew Avelar. He had been booked on June 28; Shawn Slavens was one month shy of his 46th birthday when staff responded to a fight inside a cell on June 25. Inmate death is 5th of 2021 at Oklahoma County jail. While being escorted by a detention officer Tuesday about 9:40 a.m. to the video hearing room in the Jail, the officer noticed that Jimmy Bedford (DOB 1-27-1967) did not seem . The inmate, Brad Lane, was beaten with his own medical walking boot on Jan. 2, 2021, as he screamed for 40 minutes for help. Seven prisoners have died at the Oklahoma County Detention Center in the past three months. What happened: An inmate collapsed in the jail day room. Name: Lance SolomonAge: 55Died: Jan. 8, 2020Location: Logan Co. Documented insufficient staffing levels and the overall poor condition of the 30-year old jail building have contributed to high death rates and a lack of basic rights for prisoners at the jail over the past decade. Name: Christopher HetheringtonAge: 39Died: Jan. 15, 2020Location: LeFlore County Detention Center in Poteau. Dominique Lynn Smith. I havent researched every jail in the country, but in talking to people who have come in to look at our jail and who have tried to improve it, its one of the worst jails in the country as far as inmate deaths, Prater said. mail In the meantime, the current building and its management remain beset by the problems that prompted the need for a new jail in the first place. House Bill 2295, a measure that would make domestic violence and stalking defendants ineligible for personal recognizance bond, is the only bail-related bill listed on the Oklahoma State Legislature tracking website. I think that, honestly, if were meeting those standards its just barely, if at all, she said. Just because there has been some level of justice involvement that has led to your detention doesnt mean you deserve any less, he said. Seven inmates have died there in the last three months and at least 84 inmates there have died since 2009, a rate more than double the national average. Tuell said Ward was routinely checked in while at the jail, as inmates normally are. Miles and Butler later told an investigator they believed that the jail didnt provide enough discipline for unruly prisoners, according to court documents. The trust has increased training time for recruits and has also begun providing more time in the jail for officers to see what the job is like. Six states Delaware, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Alaska, Hawaii, and Vermont were excluded from the investigation because their state corrections department oversees pretrial detention facilities. Stillwater, Oklahoma. Death Records are kept by Vital Records Offices or Oklahoma County Clerk's Offices, which may be run by the state or at the local level. State Question 781 would not have passed without State Question 780, which reduced many drug and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. Location: Muskogee County Detention Facility in Muskogee. OKLAHOMA CITY ( Free Press) A heart attack may be the cause of the eighth death of a detainee at the Oklahoma County Detention Center or Jail in 2021. And health care inside jails can vary widely. The Oklahoma County Jails design has also been cited as a flaw. The Oklahoma County Detention Center reported an especially high number of inmate deaths. Brewer declined to comment on the pending charges when contacted by The Frontier. Between 2016 and 2019, the jails mortality rate was 4.77 deaths per 1,000 inmates. Those housed at the center are given 10 hours to sober up and receive immediate access to substance abuse treatment. Whoops! That fatality rate is likely significantly higher now, given the spate of recent deaths. By the time detention officers arrived nearly an hour later, Lane was unresponsive. I dont know anyone involved that takes that lightly. There are more than 354,000 Oklahomans who identified as having Mexican heritage in the last census count, most of whom will finally be able to take advantage of consular services without traveling to Little Rock. Organizers and voting rights advocates say the proposed changes could benefit well-financed groups with the resources to collect more signatures. In some cases, there were prosecutions of jail staff, and I will point out that is a small minority of people that work at the jail.. Even before the jail trust took over the jail, in July 2020, Oklahoma County was well ahead of the national average for jail deaths. They moved her into an isolation cell to detox after she got into an altercation with another inmate. Hes been named in court records as a witness to Lanes death. Its actually worse than has been out in public, Calvey, who is running for district attorney, said, hosted by NonDoc in June As I said, the former sheriff was not at all transparent. The former detention officer agreed to an interview on the condition his name not be published. District 2 County Commissioner Brian Maughan said that while its important to take each death seriously, there are a variety of factors that contribute to fatalities. Brewer, who stands 6-foot-2 inches tall and weighs 280 pounds, is accused of punching a naked female prisoner in the face with a closed fist in August. More: A new Oklahoma County jail has been proposed, but how will the county pay for it? Three of the former detention officers charged involving alleged assaults on prisoners occured after the jail trust took over. Pinellas County Sheriff's Office to stop posting online mug shots. Lowe spent 100 days in a hospital while in custody of the jail. Lane was facing multiple criminal charges at the time of his death, including possession of a stolen vehicle, drug possession and reckless driving. Six detention officers at the Oklahoma County jail have been charged with assault and mistreatment of inmates since October. Im sick and tired of the jail trust not ensuring people are well cared for at the jail. Cause and manner of death: The state Medical Examiner determined Rhodes died from cardiac tamponade. The death was the second one in the week. We work closely with our medical provider to identify detainees with severe physical and mental health issues, and alert the courts to help facilitate their release when appropriate.. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. Apparently, the third went to central control but was unanswered. The frequency of deaths at the jail has been particularly high in the past couple of years. Were dealing with a fentanyl epidemic that has exploded nationally, and we have seen the impact here, he said. Shot by Shot: Tracking Oklahoma police shootings in 2023, Listen Frontier: Sen. James Lankford speaks with The Frontier about abortion, immigration and more, Frontier content sharing and collaboration terms. What happened: An inmate hanged himself, according to a jail incident report. He said he believes the Department of Justice should seek a court order in highly complex cases like the one involving the Oklahoma County Detention Center. Thats not even a strong enough description of how I feel. One jailer reported that her breathing seemed shallow during the night and later found her unresponsive in the early morning hours of July 6. The Oklahoma County Jail contracts with Turn Key Health for its medical services. Ward was scheduled to appear before a judge the morning she died, records show. The national average is 1.46 deaths per 1,000 inmates. One expert, Dr. Kenneth Ray, called the administration a competent and motivated leadership team.. There were situations in which inmates were abused. He loved to draw, read and could build or fix anything with his hands, Lanes girlfriend Crystal Oldham said. During the public comment portion of Mondays meeting, group member Christopher Johnston called for a federal takeover of the jail. Nearly 800 people died in South Carolina jails and prisons between 2015 and 2021, according to a new report from researchers at the University of South Carolina School of Law. He was transported to St. Francis Hospital Muskogee and pronounced dead. Updated. Her attorney, Cameron Spradling, provided the letter to The Frontier. While the Oklahoma State Department of Health jail services division has the authority to investigate inmate deaths and issue misconduct reports, the agency cannot issue fines or impose sanctions on facilities that fail to provide adequate care. Cause and manner of death: Possible stroke. According to jail officials, detainee Craig Weeks was discovered attempting suicide in his cell just before 1 p.m. Thursday. July 1, 2020: The Oklahoma County Jail Trust officially takes over management of the county jail, removing the sheriff's office from operations and bringing in a small team of administrators, most with experience from the state's corrections system. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. TheState Medical Examiners Office will make a final determination of the cause of Bishop's death. But friends believe Lane shouldnt have been placed in a cell with Brown, who was charged with violent crimes. While the jail trust says it has increased the amount of time prisoners spend out of their cells by 20 percent, staffing shortages mean prisoners dont always get enough time out of their cells to shower, according to interviews with former detention officers and prisoners. There are members of the trust who are county officers who are advised and represented by our office at times, Prater told The Oklahomans Nolan Clay. The jail trust estimates it will cost an additional $3.8 million to completely remedy the problem. As a nonprofit news organization,The Frontieris funded by tax-deductible donations made by people who support quality journalism. As with many jobs, it takes real-time experience in the field for each person to figure out if he or she is cut out for a career in this field., Prisoners can rig their cell doors open in order to take a shower. The Department of Justice declined to comment or provide basic details on the status of its settlement with Oklahoma County. Contact him at (405) 831-9753 or Kross@Oklahomawatch.org. Many of the charges stem from uses of force against prisoners who left their cells at unauthorized times to shower or use the restroom amid jail staffing shortages. July 28, 2020: As COVID-19 surges locally, 33 inmates and six people who . The jail trust has made it one of its top priorities to move to a system of direct supervision, but hiring enough staff to accomplish that goal has proved to be a challenge. What happened: Knox tested positive for Covid-19, but also had other health conditions and was undergoing dialysis at the time of his death, according to Oklahoma County officials. The Oklahoma County jail in Oklahoma City is pictured on May 11, 2022. An inspection report from the National Institute of Corrections also found phones that were not working in the medical unit. Oklahoma County transitioned control of the jail from the Oklahoma County Sheriffs Office to a public trust in July 2020 in hopes of reform, but problems have persisted. England, who had been convicted of fourth-degree arson, had about three months remaining on his sentence. This is the latest incident at a jail beleaguered by problems since its construction. No member of the trust questioned Williams on the circumstances of the deaths. The medical unit is located on the 13th floor, a fact that can be problematic in an emergency because of the need to use elevators to get to the ground level from the top floor. Email Kassie@readfrontier.com or brianna@readfrontier.com. Oklahoma Countys agreement with the Department of Justice required it to hire enough staff so that each jail housing unit or pod would have at least one detention officer to continuously monitor prisoners. Name: LaWanda WardAge: 46Died: Jan. 6, 2020Location: Tulsa Municipal JailCause and manner of death: UndeterminedWhat happened: Ward was arrested on January 2 on six municipal misdemeanor warrants, according to a news release from the Tulsa Police Department. William Thomas Homerding. Share. The Council for the Study of Community Colleges 2021 Program - Flip eBook Pages 1-50 | AnyFlip. Reagan was booked into the jail after being indicted on federal charges on Jan. 10, 2020. Thursday morning . Austin Bishop, 30, died in the jail Jan. 12 after detention officers were alerted to a medical emergency while they were serving breakfast. Last week, officials from the U.S. Department of Justice visited the Oklahoma County jail for three days. The detention center also now uses 31 contract law enforcement officers to watch over prisoners when they are sent to local hospitals to receive medical care. According to a Reuters News investigation published last October, 148 inmates housed in Oklahomas 11 largest county jails died from 2009 through 2019. Jail Cause and manner of death: Sepsis. According to data compiled by Prison Policy Initiative, from 2000 to 2018, suicide was the leading cause of deaths for those incarcerated in city and county jails, accounting for around 30 percent of deaths. The night of the attack, Brown was being held in the jail on charges of aggravated assault and attempted first degree robbery. Want to support our mission to hold powerful people accountable, give a voice to the voiceless, and shine a light on darkness in Oklahoma? Share. Even before the jail trust took over the jail, in July 2020, Oklahoma County was well ahead of the national average for jail deaths. Another jailer called Brewer for backup after the woman refused to return to her cell and went to take a shower, she wrote. What happened: Jailers found Alexander unresponsive on the floor of a jail day room. Lightfoot is among the . There are always ebbs and flows, Maughan said. Reagan became unresponsive, the report states. Merrell was oxygen dependent and under doctors care on the medical floor during his entire stay, according to a news release from the jail. OKLAHOMA COUNTY, Okla. ( KFOR) - Records show 14 Oklahoma County Detention Center inmates have died this year and after receiving seven of their toxicology . Yalartai had not been checked in almost 12 hours . Five inmates have now died at the jail this year, and two . Tuell said the death is the facilitys first since it opened in 2018. * Include the Oklahoma Watch logo (found here). 1100 University Avenue Huntsville, Texas 77340 936-436-4910 . After the third repeat I wanted to scream, Newell wrote. When the officer opened the cell, he saw the inmate had died, the report says. What happened: Jailers were alerted that Heatherington was having a seizure after other prisoners began kicking the dorm room door. The death rates were 18 to 58 percent higher, depending upon the company.. By submitting more than 1,500 open records requests to local jails and government agencies, Reuters gained access to inmate death data from 523 jails in 44 states. There were situations in which inmates were abused. Not long after, on Sunday, July 31, an inmate died at the jail the 12th fatality this year. Oklahoma County Jail trust takes over. She was transported to McCurtain Memorial Hospital and declared dead. Quintana-Lujan told officer he shared a marijuana cigarette the night before, according to the document. The sheriff's office . Tricia Everest, chairwoman of the jail trust, says the new administration has made positive changes at the detention center, including adding more classes and programs for prisoners and spending more money to provide higher quality food, but changing the employee culture takes time. What happened: A nurse conducting medical rounds found Denton unresponsive on her bunk in a cell. And deaths are not the only causes of lawsuits. Cause and manner of death: Possible suicide by hanging, Location: David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center in Tulsa. Jail staff then . What happened: A jailer found Mason unresponsive in his cell, hanging from the top bunk with a bed sheet wrapped around his neck. An inmate in the Oklahoma County Detention Center held a correctional officer hostage, took his radio and keys and released other inmates before being shot and killed by police on Saturday, the . a doctor declared Gonzales deceased at 4:57 p.m.The cause of death is unknown at this time.Gonzales was booked into the Oklahoma County Detention Center on Oct. 16, 2021. February 24, 2023 (37 years old) Between 2016 and 2019, the jails mortality rate was 4.77 deaths per 1,000 inmates. Tuesday, a similar situation occurred when a detainee died from an apparent heart attack. Charges were also filed and dismissed against the sheriff. His cellmate Shaquile Brown is now charged with first-degree murder, accused of using a metal brace from the walking boot to beat Lane to death. The facility has effectively been under federal oversight since 2009, when jail authorities and the DOJ entered into a memorandum of understanding to address ongoing civil rights concerns at the jail. A spokesman initially stated Ward turned herself in. The incident occured when the Oklahoma County Sheriffs Office operated the detention center in 2019, but Brewer continued to work at the jail and wasnt charged in the incident until after the trust took over in 2020. Shot by Shot: Tracking Oklahoma police shootings in 2023, Listen Frontier: Sen. James Lankford speaks with The Frontier about abortion, immigration and more, Frontier content sharing and collaboration terms. Theres just too much evidence against you guys. OKLAHOMA CITY -. Bishop's death comes after more than a dozen inmatesdied in the custody of the Oklahoma County jail in 2021. We cant do it without your support. Its people. Sheriff Chris Bryant told a reporter for the Daily Ardmoreite that the man had a history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and died of a heart attack. We should be investing in more mental health pods and psychiatric units, and minimizing the amount of time an individual spends in general population if theyre screened to have a mental illness and be suicidal, Beaumont said. The jail trust said it has hired 103 new detention officers and clerical staff since it took over in July, but turnover is a constant problem, jail administrator Greg Williams said in written responses to The Frontiers questions. Cause and manner of death:The state Medical Examiner determined Hetherington died from hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. In the event of a medical emergency, assault or mental health crisis, prisoners have to use a phone in their cells to call the command center for help, which then alerts detention officers to respond. The man said he feared for his life after a previous incident in which an inmate attacked him while he was working alone in one of the jail housing units. Administrators at the Oklahoma County Detention Center addressed the death of an inmate during a hostage situation and problems the jail is facing. The Department of Justice was on site for about three days, and they brought several experts in the mental health field, medical field and in detention facilities, said Williams, who serves as outside counsel for the trust. Echoing Williams, Maughan said many of the current deaths are related to drug overdoses, particularly from fentanyl. mail There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Joshua England, a 21-year-old inmate at the Joseph Harp Correctional Center, died of appendicitis in May 2018 after his five written requests for medical attention were ignored. The first death of an Oklahoma County jailinmate this year occurredWednesday and is under investigation, according to a release from jail administration. The Special Investigations Unit of the Jail will investigate the circumstances leading up to Davis death. Others die by suicide or overdose, which is often due to contraband entering the facility. A fifth "unannounced follow-up" health inspection of the Oklahoma County jail, conducted by the Oklahoma State Health Department on Oct. 12 found 24 repeat deficiencies cited in previous . . Solomon became ill at the jail and was taken to an Oklahoma City hospital where he died a month later, according to the state Medical Examiner. National incarceration rates increased some in late 2020 as courts resumed normal operations, but remain far lower than pre-pandemic levels. Luis Alberto Gonzalez, 39, of Oklahoma City, was being held on the jail's medical floor on a felony assault and battery charge. Voting Rights advocates say the proposed oklahoma county jail deaths 2021 could benefit well-financed groups with the resources to collect more signatures collect... Crystal oldham said enough discipline for unruly prisoners, according to the Frontier to support local independent journalism. 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