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Officials: Drug overdose cause of third jail death |
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Thursday, 21 May 2009 |
Officials have determined how a 28-year-old Benton man died at the Saline County Detention Center in December.
Saline County Sheriff Bruce Pennington and Det. Mike Frost said Wednesday that state officials told them Johnny Thompson died of a drug overdose. Pennington said there was no evidence of foul play in the state report.
“I was told there were five different drugs in his system,” Pennington said. “This was ingested before his arrival at the jail.”
On Dec. 18, Thompson was arrested for multiple failure to appear warrants with various law enforcement agencies in the state, sheriff’s Capt. Scotty Courtney said. He said Thompson was brought to the jail around 7 p.m. and was going through the booking process. Just before 9:20, the jail staff called 911, MedTran ambulance transported Thompson to Saline Memorial Hospital in Benton, where he was pronounced dead at 9:30.
The body was sent to the state Crime Laboratory and Arkansas State Police conducted an investigation.
Thompson’s death marked the third death at the new jail in Benton in 2008.
The first death was reported on July 6 when Wade Hart, 21, of Benton was found dead in a cell after being arrested on a charge of public intoxication.
“Breakfast had been served about 7:30, and he was found when they were picking up trays,” Courtney said.
Courtney said that suicide incident was reviewed, and he does not believe that inadequate staffing contributed to the death on July 6.
“Everything I’ve looked at, as far as policies and procedures go, doesn’t lead me to believe that anything could have been changed to prevent this, unless we hire a jailer for every prisoner we have,” Courtney said.
On July 26, Giovanni Gurrieri Jr., 26, of Little Rock was found dead in a cell with a bed sheet tied around his neck.
Courtney said neither Hart nor Gurrieri showed any signs of suicide or depression. He said if that had been noticed, administrators would have placed them under suicide watch. When placed under suicide watch, a prisoner’s clothing is removed to prevent him or her from using any part of the clothing to cause harm to themselves, Courtney said. He also said the general population of inmates is checked about every hour.
“If you’re determined to do it, you can kill yourself with a sock or underwear,” Courtney said. “There was no indication at all that he had these kinds of thoughts.”
Since taking over as Saline County sheriff this year, Pennington said his officers have been put through additional training to help ensure no more deaths occur at the jail.
“Training has already been done for that,” Pennington said. “Everyone has been put through jail standards.”
Really the training is everything. It’s a big issue here. You have to have training in place to help prevent suicides and for officers to recognize the signs of someone wanting to cause themselves harm.”
Former Saline County Sheriff Phil Mask said after the deaths that he was distraught over what happened during his reign, but still stood by the accounts of his jail staff.
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