Escambia Jail Inmate Dies

January 16, 2016

Friday, an inmate at the Escambia County Main Jail died after being transported to a local emergency room.

The 63-year old male was discovered unresponsive by infirmary staff during an hourly welfare check. Corrections officers and medical staff immediately began CPR, called EMS at 8:58 p.m. EMS arrived at the jail at 9:05 p.m. and reached the hospital at 9:27 p.m. He was pronounced dead at 9:49 p.m. by hospital staff.  The name of the inmate is not being released at this time pending notification of next of kin.

The inmate was arrested on Dec. 9, 2015. Upon arrival, he received a medical evaluation as part of the intake process. He had been housed alone in the infirmary for psychiatric care since Dec. 12, 2015 and checked every hour by jail staff. On the morning of Friday, Jan. 16 the inmate was seen by the facility’s nurse practitioner and psychiatric physician. He was responsive and cooperative. The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office was notified and is investigating as is standard procedure.

On Dec. 4, 2015, changes to the jail’s policies were immediately made upon transition of jail oversight to Assistant County Administer Simmons, and continue to be made to ensure inmate safety. In that time, no less than 10 policy changes have been made. Improvements include:

·       Placing jail medical services under the control of the jail commander who is empowered to make decisions regarding transporting inmates to an outside medical facility with or without medical staff recommendation.

·       Greatly improving medical status communication. Now, a list of critically ill patients is given to the command staff daily, with each shift providing an end of shift report to include updates on every infirmary patient to the jail commander.

·       Escambia County Public Safety Medical Director Dr. Paul Henning has agreed to become interim medical director of the jail also.

·       A Health Services Administrator position was hired and starts on Saturday, Jan. 30. This position contributes to strategic planning, budget development and monitoring, and problem solving for the health services division at the Escambia County Jail. This includes providing clinical expertise, direction and management of the administrative function for the benefit of the health services division.

Comments

9 Responses to “Escambia Jail Inmate Dies”

  1. RETIRED PARAMEDIC on January 20th, 2016 8:47 pm

    AS A RETIRED MEDICAL PERSON I WOULD LIKE TO SHED SOME LIGHT ON DEATH DUE TO NATURAL CAUSES, DEATH DUE TO SELF INFLICTION OR DEATH DUE TO NON COMPLIANT ILLNESSES. I AM CURIOUS AS TO HOW MANY PEOPLE PASS AWAY IN LOCAL HOSPITALS EACH DAY? HOW MANY PEOPLE COMMIT SUICIDE IN ESCAMBIA EACH DAY? HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE JUST FOUND DEAD EACH DAY? IT SEEMS AS IF SOME PEOPLE SIMPLY DONT UNDERSTAND THE ROOT CAUSES OF CERTAIN DEATHS AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF AN INDIVIDUAL NOT TAKING CARE OF THEMSELVES. WHILE I HAVE CERTAINLY NEVER WORKED IN A JAIL, I SEE THE CONSTANT CRITICISM CASTED BY THE MEDIA ON PATROL OFFICERS AND GUARDS. I WOULD ASSUME THAT THE VAST MAJORITY OF PEOPLE THAT DIE IN A PRISON SETTING HAVE SUBSTANTIAL PROBLEMS WHEN THEY ARRIVE AT THE JAIL DUE TO DRUG USE, PRE EXISTING MEDICAL CONDITIONS, MENTAL ILLNESSES ETC. WHILE I AM A FIRM BELIEVER THAT MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS BECOME MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS BECAUSE THEY WANT TO HELP PEOPLE, AFTER YEARS OF BEING A PARAMEDIC I HAVE ALSO SEEN A HOST OF PEOPLE DIE EVEN THOUGH EVERY POSSIBLE EFFORT IS BEING MADE TO SAVE THE LIFE. IVE BEEN CURSED OUT AND BLAMED BY FAMILY MEMBERS BECAUSE I COULDNT SAVE THEIR LOVED ONES AFTER THEY OVER DOSED ON DRUGS OR THEIR BODY JUST SHUT DOWN AFTER YEARS OF NEGLECTING THEIR OWN HEALTH. ITS VERY IMPORTANT FOR PEOPLE TO KNOW THAT SOMEONE CANNOT BE FORCED TO TAKE CARE OF THEIR HEALTH BUT HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

  2. EC citizen on January 19th, 2016 10:27 am

    So, who’s going to get fired over this death? You fired Director Michael Tidwell last month because of six deaths under his watch. Are you going to fire Assistant County Administer Chip Simmons over this one?!

    http://www.northescambia.com/2015/12/escambia-corrections-department-chief-terminated

  3. JB on January 19th, 2016 7:03 am

    Wow!!! Another one!

  4. pawpaw on January 18th, 2016 4:02 am

    @ Frank- if you want to know the answer ask the ECSD…IF IT WOULD ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING OF VALUE TO YOU

  5. Dan on January 17th, 2016 6:29 pm

    @ bob what do you do to contribute to making escambia county a better place. Just asking

  6. Bob on January 17th, 2016 12:03 pm

    The jail has turned into a hospital and a psychiatric unit. Until there is collaboration efforts between the arresting agencies and courts, this will keep happening. These people that die in jail are the same type of people that die out of jail. Stop casting blame and using politics when you don’t know what your talking about. When everyone that is sick, mentally ill or avid drug users is arrested and held in jail with no way to bond out and no help from the judicial system, it will keep occurring. It’s very unfortunate for anyone to die let alone in jail or not but when it’s political season and the words on the street to load the jail up and a political struggle with “who ran the jail better” what would one expect? Perhaps agendas should be cast aside for a while and real issues be addressed. Better yet; why don’t everyone work towards the same goal to make Escambia County a better place? Oh wait……never mind. That makes too much sense.

  7. Retired Corrections on January 16th, 2016 6:58 pm

    The problem at that jail is the culture. You hired an Administrator and did not support him. No one can fix that jail in one year and he had no support from his staff. It will take an Administrator several years to fix all the problems and would need to bring in their own staff for a support system. When you operate in the good old boy system, this what you get. Staff do not like changes in this type of environment and fight every change recommended. The problem occurs when the higher up’s do not support the leadership and give them time to make the changes….. you will see more of the same.

  8. Dan on January 16th, 2016 6:30 pm

    those new policies seem to be working out good thing they don’t work for the state because govenor Scott and secretary jones would blame it on twelve hour shifts

  9. Frank on January 16th, 2016 10:45 am

    I would like to know how many Inmates died when the Jail was under Sheriffs oversight VS BCC?

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News