A Jail Shakedown

Two King County Jail inmates died this year from suicides that could have been prevented, newly obtained records show. Internal jail records also reveal that another county inmate, after just a few days in the downtown jail last year, suddenly died from a rare flesh-eating disease. And the death of a mentally ill prisoner found with a wad of gauze stuck in his throat last year was later ruled a death by natural causes.

To some jail health workers and custody officers, these critical cases raise more questions about downtown jail operations. Staffing and medical record-keeping fall short, they say, affecting inmate care. Some jail-death investigations are self-serving, leaving a trail of lingering questions. And these jail sources worry that conditions have contributed to an increase in jail deaths. As Seattle Weekly has reported (see "Dead-End Jail," Sept. 21), three downtown inmates died in 2000–02, while 13 died from 2003 through July of this year—despite a jail population decline. Now, county and city officials are promising changes and closer scrutiny of King County Jail operations. County Executive Ron Sims says the jail has begun a review of procedures and policies related to intake and assessment. Meantime, there's new information about recent deaths that reinforces the need for change.

Nurses say the inmate who died from flesh-eating disease likely could not have been helped sooner. But like the two suicides this year, the 2004 death of a man named Wade Scott Brown could have been averted, they say, whether the cause was the gauze wad or not. Jail officials say that isn't so. A shift commander who investigated the case wrote this conclusion to Brown's half-century of life: "Staff could not have known that this incident was going to happen," he stated in his final report. "All duties leading up to this incident were performed in accordance with the department's policies and procedures. . . . "

Brown, a real-estate salesman, had been arrested in Shoreline for making threats during a family dispute. In jail, he exhibited mental-health problems that required special attention. He sometimes became catatonic, showered with his clothes on, talked gibberish, and burst into laughter for no apparent reason. Two days before his death, he was found lying naked on the floor of his seventh-floor psychiatric cell at the downtown Seattle jail, unresponsive. Next to him on the floor was an uneaten serving of spaghetti, a pair of wet pants, and a puddle from a leaking overhead sprinkler. There was a heavy odor of urine.

The 6-foot, 250-pound Brown was wheeled in a restraint chair to another cell. When his handcuffs were removed, he remained in the same position, as if still cuffed. According to an internal report, a nurse told custody officers that "due to his medical problems" they "should watch him closely." Almost exactly 48 hours later, at 9 p.m. on April 6, 2004, 11 days after he was booked, Scott was found dead in his cell. He was naked but partially wrapped in a standard-issue antisuicide blanket. (Its reinforced material can't be ripped and used as a noose.) Brown was reportedly being checked every half-hour. When found, his face and chest were a bluish purple from pooled blood, indicating postmortem lividity, though the jail's internal report does not pinpoint time of death. County health officials say they can't discuss medical details due to privacy laws. But a county health nurse with knowledge of the case says that if Brown had been closely watched as requested, he might have been helped earlier and sent to a hospital.

Adding to the questions was the gauze. According to the reports of two officers, nursing staff found the wad in Brown's throat before they began revival attempts. A King County Medical Examiner's report also notes, "Material reportedly removed from his oral cavity was collected as evidence" from the death scene. The implication is that Brown—or someone—could have intentionally shoved it down his windpipe. But it wasn't a suicide or a homicide, the jail decided, and police could find no evidence otherwise. The direct cause of death was, officially, biventricular cardiac hypertrophy and dilation, based on the medical examiner's findings. Wade Brown, 50, died of heart failure. "We take it personally when someone dies," says the jail's chief, Reed Holtgeerts, director of King County Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention. "But I don't know what more the staff could have done."

More might have been done in two other cases, now officially ruled suicides. Sabrina Owens, 36, who caused a horrific auto accident in a stolen truck, hanged herself May 11 while alone in a holding cell. Using an easily accessible, 6-foot power cord from a wall-mounted TV set, she wrapped it around her neck and then leaned forward, almost to her knees, strangling herself. Though a jail supervisor's review found the "situation was handled correctly," Holtgeerts now allows that, in hindsight, "It wasn't the best thing to have those [cords] in there." Owens had not revealed any suicidal tendencies during intake, and the holding cell she was placed in is usually occupied by two or three others, he says. "But we're reducing [the size] of all those cords" now.