Killed in a Kentucky Prison

June 1, 2015. Officials say a 35-year-old inmate in Louisville has died after apparently hanging himself. The Metro Department of Corrections said in a news release that Mark Webb was found Friday afternoon at the Community Corrections Center. Webb died late Saturday at the hospital.

He had been in jail since April 25 on charges of theft and possession of drug paraphernalia and an outstanding warrant.http://www.wsmv.com/story/29209403/louisville-inmate-dies-after-apparently-hanging-himself

May 23, 2015. Sgt. Jason Rives of the Shepherdsville Police Department told WHAS-TV the inmate was a male in his 50s. He was found on Friday morning and taken by ambulance to the Jewish Hospital Medical Center South. He was pronounced dead upon arrival at 10:59 a.m. The man was in a single-inmate cell when he was found by a correctional officer performing a standard welfare check. State Law requires correctional facilities to check inmates every hour. Rives said the death is under investigation but so far there are no indications of foul play. Police have not yet released the man's name. http://www.kentuckynewera.com/news/article_5fa1042c-0187-11e5-950d-efafeb5f91aa.html

May 21, 2015. 35-year-old Justin Hilbert was assaulted May 15 at the Little Sandy Correctional Complex, a medium security facility in Elliott County. He was taken to a hospital in Morehead before being transported to the University of Kentucky Medical Center. Police say he died Thursday.

The name of the assailant has not been released. Hilbert was serving time on gun, drug and evading police charges, according to records from the Kentucky Department of Corrections. http://www.whas11.com/story/news/crime/2015/05/22/police-louisville-man-dies-after-prison-assault/27766909/ http://www.wect.com/story/29130452/louisville-man-dies-after-assault-inside-prison

February 16, 2015. Franklin T. Bolton, age 19 who was booked into Metro Corrections on Dec. 29, 2014 on two counts of kidnapping, two counts of robbery possession of a controlled substance, promoting contraband, tampering with physical evidence and a probation violation hung himself in his cell with a bed sheet, Davis said. http://www.wdrb.com/story/28118882/louisville-metro-corrections-inmate-dead-from-apparent-suicide

January 21, 2015. In interviews with WDRB, Smith denied being the shooter in the March 18, 1960 robbery of a Lexington liquor store, in which 62-year-old Olin Alexander was killed. William Gaines Smith, Kentucky's longest serving inmate, has died, just months after becoming one of the first inmates in Kentucky to be granted medical parole under a state pilot program. http://www.wdrb.com/story/27903834/kentuckys-longest-serving-inmate-dies-after-54-years-in-prison

January 9, 2015. Estate of Kentucky Jail Prisoner Who Died of Untreated Pneumonia Awarded $1,729,513. A Kentucky jury returned a verdict of $1,729,513 to the estate of a prisoner who died of pneumonia at the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center (BSRDC). The family of another prisoner who died at ...https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2015/jan/9/estate-kentucky-jail-prisoner-who-died-untreated-pneumonia-awarded-1729513/

January 2015. James Kenneth Embry, 57 and with just three years left on a nine-year sentence for drug offenses, began to spiral out of control in the spring of 2013 after he stopped taking anti-anxiety medication. Seven months later, in December, after weeks of erratic behavior — from telling prison staff he felt anxious and paranoid to banging his head on his cell door — Embry eventually refused most of his meals. By the time of his death in January of this year, he had shed more than 30 pounds on his 6-foot frame and died weighing just 138 pounds, according to documents reviewed by the AP. An internal investigation determined that medical personnel failed to provide him anti-anxiety medication that may have kept his suicidal thoughts at bay and didn't take steps to check on him as his condition worsened. The internal review of Embry's death also exposed broader problems involving the treatment of inmates — including a failure to regularly check inmates on medical rounds and communication lapses among medical staff. Kentucky State Penitentiary James Kenneth Embry was entering the final three years of a nine-year prison term he earned for drug offenses http://rt.com/usa/kentucky-prison-doctor-inmate-starvation-908/

October 27, 2014. Jonathan D. Wright was booked into the jail on Thursday on a warrant for a parole violation. Officials say he hung himself in his cell, using a bed sheet. According to LMDC officials, Jonathan D. Wright, 41, was found in his cell around 11:30 a.m. Oct. 27 by ... http://www.wdrb.com/story/27026303/louisville-metro-corrections-inmate-found-hanging-in-his-cell

October 14, 2014. A man being held at Louisville Metro Corrections has died after becoming ill at the jail. According to a press release, William R. Carnes, 31, died Oct. 13 at University Hospital. He was taken there after experiencing seizure-related symptoms while at the jail. Carnes arrived at LMDC on Oct. 9 after being brought from Hopkins County to face open charges in Jefferson County. http://raycomgroup.worldnow.com/story/26783660/investigations-underway-into-death-of-metro-jail-inmate An inmate at Louisville Metro Corrections has died after being taken to a hospital for seizure-related symptoms. WDRB-TV said 31-year-old William Carnes was taken to Louisville from Hopkins County last Thursday on several charges in Jefferson County. He was taken to University Hospital on Friday. Corrections officials said he was having seizure-related symptoms that afternoon. A news release said he died Monday at the hospital. http://www.wbko.com/news/headlines/Louisville-Jail-Inmate-Dies-279287602.html

September 28, 2014. A Kentucky woman dies in Miami-Dade. “They let someone die on their watch, and this should not have happened,” Cohen said. As for Isaacs, she had lived in Punta Gorda with her father for several years. In August 2012, she was arrested on a grand theft charge after police said she stole $1,200 worth of merchandise from a Walmart store in Port Charlotte. At age 54, Denise Isaacs suffered from a slew of ailments, including bipolar disorder, anxiety and chronic abdominal pain.

Yet Isaacs, who was wanted in Southwest Florida on a probation violation for shoplifting, was crammed into a stuffy transport van with 10 other shackled inmates for a nearly 1,000-mile trip from Kentucky to Punta Gorda. “I knew she wouldn’t be be able to make a trip like that because of her weakness and pain,” said her daughter, Kallie Isaacs, of Lexington, Kentucky. But her family never believed that the rigors of the journey might kill her. Isaacs earlier this month was found slumped over dead inside the van — operated by Tennessee-based Prisoner Transportation Services of America through a contract with the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office — during a stop at a West Miami-Dade Taco Bell restaurant. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article2287990.html

August 26, 2014. Michael B. Jones, 55, recently returned after a court ordered furlough, and is believed to have brought a pair of underwear back into prison soaked in methadone. He allegedly shared pieces of the underwear with fellow inmates. Inmate Corey D. McQueary, 33, was found unresponsive early Thursday morning and was later pronounced dead by the Jessamine County coroner. McQueary’s autopsy results are not back yet, but police say they suspect a methadone overdose. http://fox43.com/2014/08/26/death-by-underpants-inmate-dies-after-eating-fellow-prisoners-underwear/

August 15, 2014. PINE KNOT, Ky. — A federal inmate serving a 40-year sentence for child-related sex offenses has died after being attacked at a southern Kentucky prison. Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn says 69-year-old Donald John Post Sr. of League City, Texas, died Wednesday as a result of injuries sustained during an attack inside his cell a day earlier at United States Penitentiary McCreary in Pine Knot. Post pleaded guilty and was sentenced earlier this year in federal court in Texas to charges of sexual exploitation of children and possession of child pornography.http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2014-08-15/federal-inmate-dies-after-attack-prison#.VXRkqs9Viko

May 5, 2014. In a lawsuit filed on February 24th, the mother of Brandon Clint Hacker claims that a “continuing policy, pattern, custom and/or practice of … willfully and deliberately ignoring the medical needs of inmates of the Jail” contributed to the death of her 35-year-old son at Kentucky’s Madison County Detention Center (MCDC). Charlotte Diana Winkler is suing private inmate medical contractor Advanced Correctional Healthcare, Inc. (ACH) and their employees: Dr. Nadir H. Al-Shami, Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner Layla Troutman and Licensed Practical Nurse Arlene Johnson. She is also suing Madison County, Jailer Doug Thomas, Capt. Tom Jones, Capt. Cory Dunning, Deputy J. J. LaGrange, Capt. Keith Trickler, and Deputy Whitney Bratcher. ACH is in the midst of a $222,000 contract to provide healthcare at MCDC. According to theirwebsite, the Illinois-based contractor oversees inmate medical care in 17 states and works with “adults, juveniles, and Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees on behalf of jails, juvenile detention centers, work release centers, methadone clinics, and more.” Hacker started to feel sick at MCDC a few days after he was arrested for failing to appear at child support hearings, the complaint states. He filled out a medical request form, writing “Very sick, stomach, meds.” Records indicate that one of ACH’s nurses who visited Hacker, LPN Johnson, described him as “sick, shaky, chills, upset stomach.” He had high blood pressure and “active tremors, body aches, sweating.” Johnson noted that day that his symptoms were consistent with “Possible W/D [withdrawal] from heroin.” For the next two days, the lawsuit says, Hacker went without medical attention because no healthcare workers were stationed at the facility over the weekend. “Mr. Hacker and his cellmates repeatedly requested that he be seen by a doctor or taken to a hospital, to no avail,” it states. By Sunday, Hacker’s pain had become unbearable. He filled out another medical request form, writing: “Blood Pressure. Need to see A.S.A.P. Having trouble breathing. Stomach problems.”

February 23, 2014. Louisville EMS pronounced an inmate dead after he was found unresponsive in his jail cell Sunday morning. Robert W. Brown, 49, was arrested Saturday night on several charges and transported by police to Louisville Metro Corrections around 9 p.m. He was taken to University of Louisville Hospital for medical treatment after an evaluation by Correct Care Solution. Brown was returned to jail around 2:30 a.m. and was booked into the facility. Corrections officials observed Brown standing in his single cell around 6:45 a.m. About 20 minutes, later he was found lying on the floor unresponsive. EMS gave Brown CPR, but he was pronounced dead at 7:55 a.m. An autopsy will be preformed and a review by the Louisville Metro Police Department's Public Integrity Unit and Metro Corrections is underway. Both are standard procedures whenever a death occurs at the jail. Correct Care will also conduct its own mortality review to ensure that its policies and procedures were followed. Brown would have faced charges of alcohol intoxication in a public place and an drinking alcoholic beverage in a public place.http://www.wdrb.com/story/24799155/inmate-dies-at-metro-corrections

January 8, 2014. An inmate at Louisville Metro Corrections has died after attempting to commit suicide. According a press release from LMDC, Laron Moore was found on the afternoon of January 4 hanging in his cell. Moore was taken to University Hospital where he was placed on life support and listed in critical condition. On January 8, Moore died while on life support. The death of Moore is being investigated by LMDC and the Louisville Metro Police Department. http://www.kpho.com/story/24397674/metro-corrections-inmate-dies-after-suicide-attempt http://www.fox19.com/story/24397674/metro-corrections-inmate-dies-after-suicide-attempt

2014. Steven Dale Green. Louisville, Kentucky. Officials say an ex-soldier has died in a federal prison where he was serving several life terms for gunning down four members of an Iraqi family during a deployment to their country. Twenty-eight-year-old Steven Dale Green of Texas was convicted in 2009 for raping and killing 14-year-old Abeer Qassim al-Janabi and gunning down three members of her family. Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman John Stahley says Green was found dead Saturday in his prison cell in Arizona and it was likely a suicide. Green was a private in the 101st Airborne Division based at Fort Campbell on the Kentucky-Tennessee state line when he deployed to Iraq. The crimes occurred in March 2006 when Green and three other soldiers went to the family’s home in Mahmoudiya, Iraq.

July 9, 2013. Hazard, Perry County. 55 year old Larry Trent is beat to death by Kentucky Jailers 36 year old Damon Hickman and 56 year old William Howell. Their case is still pending in court. Larry Trent went to the Kentucky River Regional jail over a DUI. Trent complained of Damon Hickman beating him up in 2012, but nothing ever came out of it. http://www.wkyt.com/wymt/home/headlines/Jail-administrator-says-guards-accused-of-beating-inmate-to-death-made-a-mistake-214856251.html 
http://www.wkyt.com/mobile/headlines/New-allegations-of-beatings-at-Kentucky-River-Regional-Jail-231790501.html http://www.wkyt.com/wymt/home/headlines/Two-years-later-Family-remembers-Eastern-Kentucky-inmate-who-died-in-jail-313041271.html http://www.wkyt.com/wymt/home/headlines/Grand-jury-indicts---218154761.html

April 23, 2013. Michael S. Lynch died Monday at University of Kentucky Hospital, where he had been taken by helicopter after he was stabbed in the neck Sunday at the Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex in West Liberty. The KSP said the suspect is Eric S. Chapman and the fatal stabbing is still under investigation. http://www.wlky.com/news/local-news/kentucky-news/Prison-inmate-dies-after-being-stabbed-in-neck/19857336

August/September 2012. Kenneth Cross arrived at Metro Corrections. An unidentified friend had been taking him to the hospital when he was pulled over by police, according to a lawsuit filed earlier this year on behalf of Cross’ estate. The suit claims officers believed Cross, who was arrested on a warrant for a drug possession charge, was faking an overdose and would get any help he needed at Metro Corrections. A nurse at Metro Corrections documented that Cross had “slurred speech” and fell asleep “several times during his interview,” according to jail records. Cross told the nurse he had only one beer that day and was fine. He was found unconscious hours later, according to jail records in the suit. Cross was pronounced dead a short time later. “Nodding off ... clearly should raise a red flag in the case of someone who was arrested for drug possession,” said Gregory Belzley, who represents Cross’ family. “Either hospitalize him or put him under very careful observation in which he is not allowed to go to sleep.” Cross, 43, died of a drug overdose, according to a state medical examiner. Bolton said there was no investigation into Cross’ death because there was “no suspicion of foul play” or other red flags. He declined to comment further on the Cross case. The commonwealth’s attorney’s office reviewed the case and sent it back to Louisville police. Dwight Mitchell, a police spokesman, said no charges were filed in the Cross case.

August 8, 2012. Samantha George. Louisville, Kentucky. Samantha George was moved from the Bullitt County jail to Metro Corrections last August on a charge of buying a stolen computer. George told a Corizon nurse at the jail that she was a severe diabetic, needed insulin, and was feverish and in pain from an MRSA infection, according to the suit, filed on behalf of George’s mother. George said she could not even keep water down and a nurse asked an on-call jail physician whether George should be taken to the emergency room, according to jail records that were part of a police investigation. The doctor said he would see the prisoner the next day and that she should be monitored, according to the records. But there was a mistake with the paperwork for corrections staff to make regular observational checks, according to the police investigation. George’s condition worsened and she was refused medical treatment, the suit claims. The Corizon jail doctor never saw her despite promises he would check on her, according to the lawsuit, which names Corizon and Bolton as defendants. Theresa George, Samantha George’s mother, said she called had Metro Corrections and told them how serious her daughter’s condition was and that she had to have a shot every hour. “They said, ‘I’m looking at her right now and she’s fine,’” Theresa George said. “Four hours later, she was dead.” Samantha George was found unresponsive on Aug. 8, 2012, and she was pronounced dead a short time later at University of Louisville Hospital. Louisville jail: homeless, the mentally ill, and those addicted to drugs. Last fall I represented a homeless man who was arrested for disorderly conduct because he was panhandling outside of a Speedway gas station. He ended up spending thirty days in jail. In January 2014, the Louisville Metro Police’s Public Integrity Unit concluded investigations into three of the deaths at the jail, and criticized both Corizon and LMC. The Commonwealth Attorney’s Office found that Sparks’ and George’s deaths were preventable; however, no criminal charges were filed. Dr. William Smock, a forensic examiner who served as a consultant during the investigations, stated with respect to George’s death: “There is compelling evidence of a significant deviation from the standard of care and medical negligence on the part of the medical providers.” After the deaths of Sparks, George, Cross and four other prisoners in 2012, LMC director Bolton said he believed Corizon took too long to evaluate and treat prisoners at the jail. https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2014/mar/15/corizon-needs-a-checkup-problems-with-privatized-correctional-healthcare/

July 24, 2012. Lakenya Porter. Louisville, Kentucky. The family of a former Metro Corrections inmate has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against jail employees and its former medical provider, among others, claiming negligence was a "substantial factor" in her 2012 death. The lawsuit, filed in Jefferson Circuit Court Tuesday on behalf of LaKenya Porter, claims Corizon, the private company that provided the jail's medical care at the time, and Metro Corrections director Mark Bolton failed to properly train and supervise staff, who provided Porter with inappropriate medical care. The lawsuit comes weeks after the Louisville Metro Police's Public Integrity Unit completed its investigation into Porter's July 24, 2012, death, with prosecutors finding no criminal conduct but criticizing both Corizon and Metro Corrections for their care. While the lawsuit comes after the one-year statute of limitations on filing civil action, Brandon Lawrence, who is representing Porter's estate, said the family didn't know about the myriad problems with Porter's care until the police investigation was released in January. "The jail gave them no information" on Porter's death, he said in an interview. Bolton has said only that Porter, 33, died of natural causes, and neither jail officials nor Corizon have commented further on Porter's death because of the potential of litigation.

April 2012. Savannah Sparks. Louisville, Kentucky. Investigations by police and jail officials into the deaths of Savannah Sparks, who died from opiate abuse and withdrawal six days after arriving at Metro Corrections in April 2012, are still ongoing, Bolton said. Previously he had said he believed that Corizon medical staff took too long to have a company doctor look at Sparks and George. A wrongful-death lawsuit was filed in April 2013 on behalf of Sparks’ grandmother, Karen May. Filed in Jefferson Circuit Court, it claims Corizon Inc. and dozens of Metro Corrections employees were negligent in treating Sparks, 27, while she was in jail on a theft charge. Savannah Sparks' family attorney, Seth Gladstein, said they have not filed a lawsuit but are considering one. Sparks' grandmother, Karen May, spoke exclusively to WHAS11's Bryan Baker about trying to find the answers surrounding her granddaughter's death, five days after she was arrested for shoplifting. Sparks was a 27-year-old mother of three boys and was addicted to heroin. May hoped the April arrest would help turn Sparks' life around. 'She was going to check into the hospital again, and so when she called me and she said that she had been arrested, I thought, well, this will help her,' May cried. 'She'll be ok. (Five) days later they called me that she was dead, and they couldn't give me any answers.' Louisville jail: homeless, the mentally ill, and those addicted to drugs. Last fall I represented a homeless man who was arrested for disorderly conduct because he was panhandling outside of a Speedway gas station. He ended up spending thirty days in jail. In January 2014, the Louisville Metro Police’s Public Integrity Unit concluded investigations into three of the deaths at the jail, and criticized both Corizon and LMC. The Commonwealth Attorney’s Office found that Sparks’ and George’s deaths were preventable; however, no criminal charges were filed. Dr. William Smock, a forensic examiner who served as a consultant during the investigations, stated with respect to George’s death: “There is compelling evidence of a significant deviation from the standard of care and medical negligence on the part of the medical providers.” After the deaths of Sparks, George, Cross and four other prisoners in 2012, LMC director Bolton said he believed Corizon took too long to evaluate and treat prisoners at the jail. https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2014/mar/15/corizon-needs-a-checkup-problems-with-privatized-correctional-healthcare/ http://www.whas11.com/story/news/investigations/iteam/2014/10/13/15703230/

2012. Thomas Bernard. Louisville, Kentucky.

2012. James Henson. Louisville, Kentucky.

2012. Arthur McCarty. Louisville, Kentucky.

2009. Shannon Finn. Bowling Green, Kentucky. A federal jury has decided that Warren County jail officials are not liable in the death of an inmate. The Daily News (http://bit.ly/13zmKW1) reports jurors handed down the decision Tuesday in the civil trial over the death of 34-year-old Shannon Finn. Finn's estate and the guardian of his three children said in a lawsuit filed against the jail's former medical director John Adams, four jail employees and the county that workers were negligent and not properly trained. Finn died in 2009 three days after being arrested for a probation violation. An autopsy found that Finn died from delirium tremens brought on by alcohol withdrawal. Defense attorneys had maintained that he received proper medical treatment. http://www.wsmv.com/story/22978396/jury-rules-in-favor-of-jail-in-inmates-death

June 6, 2007. Columbia, Kentucky. Billy Phillips was killed by Bramlett Burton. An autopsy is to be performed on the body of a man who died at the U-K Hospital following an encounter with a state trooper at a southern Kentucky jail. State police say 53-year-old Billy Phillips of Columbia was arrested June first after being stopped on Kentucky 80 in Adair County, near the Adair-Russell County line, for driving under the influence. Phillips suffered a head injury at the Adair County Jail during an altercation with 34-year-old Trooper Bramlett Burton.

2006. Martin County, Kentucky. Calvin L. Speight, 42, was stabbed Tuesday at Big Sandy Penitentiary in Martin County, prison officials said. "Preliminary information indicates he was the victim of an assault," said prison spokeswoman Mashelle Arisman in a news release. She did not give details of the circumstances. “He had stab wounds to the neck,” said Floyd County Deputy Coroner Glen Frazier, who examined the body at the hospital. "A lot of it is still under investigation by the FBI," said Michael Truman, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington. Speight was serving a prison sentence of 25 years to life for rape and two counts of burglary in Washington, D.C., the news release said. Speight was transferred Jan. 27, 2004, to the eastern Kentucky prison.