inmate deaths

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Family: He Died in Prison Assault Weeks Before Release

Relatives say Daniel Williams was essentially kidnapped by inmates, though warden in Alabama claimed overdose

(Newser) - Daniel Terry Williams, serving a 1-year sentence for second-degree theft, was due to be released from Alabama's Staton Correctional Facility early this month. Instead, he left two weeks early because he'd been beaten so badly that he was brain dead, according to family, who claim he was tortured...

County Settles With Family of Inmate 'Eaten Alive' by Bugs

Lashawn Thompson was literally covered in bugs when he died in Fulton County Jail

(Newser) - Georgia's Fulton County has reached a settlement with the family of a man who died in a insect-infested cell in the county jail's psychiatric wing, the family's lawyers said Thursday. The terms were not immediately disclosed. Lashawn Thompson, 35, died in September, three months after he was...

Texas Makes Largest Jail Death Settlement in Its History

Inmate Holly Barlow-Austin was denied HIV medication, lived 'in constant pain': lawsuit

(Newser) - The family of a female inmate in Texas who was allegedly denied HIV medication before dying has been awarded $7 million in what's reported to be the largest known jail-related death settlement in state history. Holly Barlow-Austin died in a hospital on June 17, 2019, after two months inside...

This Is Among Worst Cases of Jail Abuse in US History: Suit

Family alleges Alabama man 'froze to death' while restrained in jail's walk-in freezer

(Newser) - The family of an Alabama man who died in police custody alleges he "froze to death" after he was restrained for hours in a jail's walk-in freezer. Anthony Mitchell, 33, was held at the Walker County Jail for 14 days before he was taken to a hospital on...

NYC Inmate Dies After Leap From Floating Jail

Gregory Acevedo, who had a previous escape conviction, fell 50 feet

(Newser) - An inmate in New York City died Tuesday after jumping 50 feet from what is believed to be the country's only floating jail . Gregory Acevedo, 48, scaled a fence and crawled through razor wire before leaping from the rooftop recreation yard of the 625-foot jail barge known as the...

DA Won't File Charges in Teen's Death in Custody

Kansas DA cites Stand Your Ground law in Cedric Lofton case

(Newser) - Update: No charges will be filed in the death of 17-year-old Cedric Lofton at a juvenile center in Kansas in September, a district attorney said Wednesday, citing the state's Stand Your Ground law. Sedgwick County DA Marc Bennett said detention center employees who shackled the teen and left him...

Officer to Dying Man: 'You Shouldn't Be Able to Breathe'

Video shows 2020 encounter that ended with William Jennette's death

(Newser) - "Help me! They're going to kill me," William Jennette shouted at a responding police officer as corrections officers wrestled with him in a Tennessee county jail. Once he was taken to the ground, police officers joined jailers in holding the handcuffed father of five in the prone...

Inmate Reveals How He Dealt With Child Molesters

Jonathan Watson, 41, wrote a letter to the Bay Area News Group

(Newser) - A California inmate serving a life sentence for murder confessed in a letter that he beat to death two child molesters with another inmate's cane hours after a prison counselor ignored his urgent warning that he might become violent, the AP reports. In a letter to the Bay Area...

Inmate Found Dead Days After His Jailbreak Flops

Clauvino da Silva believed to have died by hanging

(Newser) - A Brazilian gang leader is believed to have committed suicide three days after attempting to escape prison dressed as his 19-year-old daughter . Clauvino da Silva was found dead Tuesday in his cell at the high-security Bangu 1 prison in Rio de Janeiro state. He'd been transferred there following his...

3 Charged in Death of Inmate Denied Water for a Week

Prosecutors say Terrill Thomas was left to die in April 2016

(Newser) - A Wisconsin jail commander and two other staffers face charges after prosecutors say they left an inmate to die. Terrill Thomas, 38, died of dehydration in the solitary confinement unit of Milwaukee County Jail in April 2016 after a week without water. Though the move was against regulation at the...

Officer Allegedly Cut Inmate's Water a Week Before His Death

His family says it was 'a form of torture'

(Newser) - As Terrill Thomas was placed in solitary confinement at Milwaukee County Jail on April 17, 2016, a corrections officer was seen on surveillance video turning off the water in his cell. It remained off for seven days before Thomas, 38, died of dehydration, a jury heard Monday. The six jurors...

After Release Fax Fails, Inmate Commits Suicide

Joshua Miles found unresponsive a day after fax failed to send

(Newser) - Joshua Miles should have been out of jail last week. Instead, because a release fax failed to transmit the day prior, the 36-year-old remained at South Central Regional Jail in Charleston, W.Va., where he is believed to have committed suicide. Miles was found unresponsive in his cell early on...

Suspects in Murder of Inmates Killed Women, Children

The 2 suspects are each serving life sentences

(Newser) - Two convicts each serving a life sentence for killing a mother and her child have been charged with murder in the strangulation deaths of four inmates inside a South Carolina prison, the AP reports. Denver Simmons and Jacob Philip lured each of the four inmates into a cell at Kirkland...

4 Inmates Found Dead in Maximum-Security Prison

But authorities aren't saying how they died

(Newser) - Four inmates were found dead Friday morning in a dorm at one of South Carolina's maximum-security men's prisons, authorities said. The inmates were found at Kirkland Correctional Institution in the capital city of Columbia, Department of Corrections Director Bryan Stirling told the AP . Stirling did not say how...

Inmate Died Slowly After Broken Neck Was Ignored
Inmate Left to Die as Broken
Neck Ignored for Days
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Mar 26, 2017 5:32 PM CDT

Inmate Left to Die as Broken Neck Ignored for Days

The county and former sheriff involved just lost a wrongful death lawsuit

(Newser) - An Army veteran died a slow death in an Oklahoma jail in 2011 after breaking his neck and receiving no medical attention, despite his insistence for days that he could not move. On Monday, a federal jury ruled in favor of Elliot Williams' estate in a wrongful death lawsuit over...

No Charges for Guards Who Allegedly Boiled Prisoner Alive

The state disregarded testimony of Darren Rainey's fellow inmates

(Newser) - The state has declined to file criminal charges against four corrections officers who allegedly boiled a schizophrenic inmate alive in a Florida prison shower five years ago, the Miami New Times reports. Darren Rainey was serving time in Dade Correctional Institute for cocaine possession when corrections officers allegedly trapped him...

Family: Inmate Died Because She Was Denied Water

Joyce Curnell was found dead in her cell on July 22

(Newser) - A lawyer says a South Carolina woman died in police custody last year because she was denied a basic necessity: water. Joyce Curnell, 50, was suffering from sickle cell disease, alcoholism, and hypertension, when she went to the emergency room with stomach flu last July. She was treated and released...

Inmates: NY Guards Killed Man, Threw Him Down Stairs

Samuel Harrell's family says a lawsuit is coming

(Newser) - Police say they're probing the death of a black inmate at Fishkill Correctional Facility in Beacon, NY, earlier this year, but inmates inside say the case is cut and dry: Samuel Harrell, 30, was murdered by a gang of correctional officers known as the "Beat Up Squad."...

Inmate Found Dead in Steam-Filled Cell

Maryland death a mystery but not murder, officials say

(Newser) - Investigators are pretty sure that an inmate found dead in a steam-filled cell wasn't murdered, but they can't explain just what happened to Louis Leysath. The 35-year-old was found in his cell at Maryland's Jessup Correctional Institution on Friday, and a prison spokesman says the death was...

32 Fla. Prison Guards Fired After Inmate Deaths

Prisoners at 4 state prisons died because of abuse, misconduct: allegations

(Newser) - Nearly three dozen guards for Florida's state prison system have been fired for alleged misconduct or abuse after inmate deaths at four different facilities, the Miami Herald reports via the AP . Department of Corrections Secretary Michael Crews said in a statement on Friday that the goal of the mass...

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