A new report filed Thursday with the U.S. District Court by the court-appointed monitor says the county’s compliance with a court order is in dispute after six deaths that have occurred this year in the Hinds County jail system
In one of those deaths, it took nine hours for the inmate’s body to be discovered by detention officers.
The report calls the series of events alarming and says it raises serious concerns about the continued lack of compliance by both county officials and the Sheriff’s Office. The monitor also recommended that a hearing or status conference be held to address immediate measures that need to be taken to prevent the future loss of life.
One problematic part of these deaths according to the report is that no after-action reports have been submitted, even though some of the incidents occurred more than six months ago.
The most recent death was on October 18, when an inmate in a unit where the doors don’t lock and there is minimal staff supervision was hit in the head by another inmate between 4:30 a.m. and 5 a.m. A third inmate stomped on the victim’s head and he was dragged across the mezzanine. He was later dragged back and propped up in a sitting position on a mat.
He wasn’t discovered by officers until 1:45 p.m. The monitor asked in the report why the activity wasn’t observed on camera by the officer manning the control room.
The monitor said the “minimal” incident report called it a medical report-injury rather than an assault, which the report says raises cause for concern when it comes to the jail staff’s accuracy of reporting.
The first death occurred on March 19 when a Jackson Police Department officer brought an arrestee into the booking area for processing. A detention officer had to help the JPD officer get the man out of the police car. A nurse that worked at the jail determined that the arrestee needed to be taken to a hospital. Later, she was called back to perform cardio-pulmonary resuscitation. When she asked why he hadn’t been transported to a hospital, she was told the staff wanted another evaluation first.
An attempt to provide oxygen from an O2 concentrator was unsuccessful because of a faulty outlet that necessitated the use of an extension cord. An attempt to use an automated external defibrillator brought from medical (there wasn’t one in booking) failed because there were no pads. After the arrestee died, the Sheriff’s Office took the position he wasn’t an inmate because he had not been booked. Instead of an incident report, individual memos were written about the incident.
The second was a suicide by an inmate on April 18 being housed in a holding cell, which is contrary to the settlement agreement between the court and the county which prohibits this practice. The report said the detention officer assigned to the booking floor wasn’t at his post, where officers must conduct 15-minute checks of all prisoners in the holding cells. The inmate hung himself with a sheet and since detention officers didn’t have a 911 knife, they had to use scissors to cut the sheet from his neck. According to the report, the last documented wellness check was conducted more than three hours before the incident.
Another hanging occurred in the C-unit on July 6. The report says the detention officer signed to the C-unit was responsible for doing 30-minute wellness checks on inmates and 15-minute checks on those on suicide watch, where observation must be constant. The report says one officer should never be responsible for both duties.
The officer and the sergeant didn’t immediately open the cell door and lower the inmate to the floor, but when to control to report the incident to the lieutenant in booking. The report says they waited to assist the inmate only after making the call.
The fourth death was a drug overdose on August 3. Inmates told the monitor that they called for help for five hours. The medical staff at the jail reported rigor mortis had already set in with the deceased prisoner, indicating he’d been dead for some time.
The fifth death on August 4 was due to COVID-related complications at the hospital. There has been no investigation of his death and there are questions, according to the report, about when the symptoms first appeared.
The Hinds County jail system is under a 2016 federal consent decree and settlement that requires the county to protect inmates from violence from other prisoners and improper use of force by staff in addition to detainment of prisoners beyond court-ordered release dates and the improper isolation of prisoners.
In January 2020, U.S. Judge Carlton Reeves issued an order to compel county officials to move forward with meeting the stipulations of the settlement agreement.
