Inmate deaths are uncommon and can be explained with great detail, yet that would require the reporter (Katie Campbell) or editor (Andy Howell) to actually email or call the Public Information Officer for PCSO to obtain the facts and background detail. What this reporter and editor did was akin to a deputy writing a police report on a complex investigation based solely on a third party – who has no firsthand knowledge of the case. This is very lazy, incomplete work and the conclusions are based off pure conjecture. Another poor reflection of a once respected local paper owned by the Kramer family.
The story claims the PCSO Jail is ranked among the nation’s top 10 for inmate deaths – by percentage of inmate population per jail facility. The Pinal County Sheriff’s Jail is the only Sheriff’s Office Jail in Arizona that is nationally accredited. The accreditation has helped to ensure our jail is safe for both employees and inmates. The Arizona County Insurance Pool has stated, there have not been any significant lawsuits brought against the County during the past eight years as a result of our jail.
Healthcare the inmates receive is not provided by the Sheriff’s Office but rather by Pinal County Correctional Health. Each inmate entering the facility spends time with healthcare workers to ensure they are safely able to remain in the facility. Inmates have 24 hour access to healthcare workers.
Pinal County Correctional Health has thirty-two nurses that work at the jail to ensure inmates are taken care of medically.
The deaths cited in the story are listed below with additional information that was available to the reporter but she didn’t feel it necessary to include in her story.
Inmate Corey Allen – Corey had a terminal illness which healthcare workers and the courts were aware of. He received continuous medical care both at our jail and outside healthcare facilities for his terminal illness. There was nothing anybody could have done to have prevented his pre-diagnosed terminal illness which resulted in his death.
Inmate Joshua Cruz Doria was a suicide. Joshua was asked when he was booked by healthcare workers if he was suicidal or felt like hurting himself and he said no. Before Joshua committed suicide, he had spoken by phone with his own family members and made suicidal statements to them. His family never reached out to our office to notify us about the suicidal statements he had made to them until after we had notified them of his death. Joshua was inside of his cell and hung himself right after jail staff had conducted a security check of his cell.
Department of Corrections (DOC) Inmate Anthony was involved in a fight with another DOC inmate. An autopsy showed he had a preexisting medical condition and died as a result of a “hemorrhage of his basilar artery as a result of heightened excitement of the fight.” The other party involved in the fight was charged with negligent homicide and not murder because of the pre-existing medical injury.
Inmate Benny Hensley when initially booked denied to healthcare workers any substance abuse. Later while in his cell, Benny complained of chest pains and received immediate medical treatment. He was loaded onto a gurney and taken by ambulance to a hospital. When he left our facility, he was still talking and coherent. When he was at the hospital, he later died as a result of the baggie of methamphetamines he had ingested prior to coming into our facility. The Medical Examiner determined his death to be a result of “methamphetamine intoxication.” During an autopsy, the baggie of methamphetamines was found inside his stomach.
Detention staff and correctional health workers cannot be everywhere at all times. It is also unfortunate that suspects who are booked into jail are most often not honest regarding the dangerous substances they have ingested.
Providing this information directly to the public ensures you get the full picture, instead of the half truths and spin of the media while ginning up the most dramatic story for their front page.