LOUISVILLE, Ky. — An incarcerated person who was at Louisville Metro Corrections died Saturday morning, according to LMDC. Assistant Director Steve Durham said an officer responded to a medical emergency around 11:15 a.m. and found the person unresponsive.
The officer and medical staff tried life-saving efforts before EMS arrived. The person was transported to University Hospital where they later died.
No cause of death or the person's identity has been released.
This is the 7th death at LMDC since November.
State Representative Jason Nemes (R) said it's time for the legislature to get hands-on and tackle the problems inside LMDC. He said 7 deaths over a 4-month-span shows a lack of local leadership.
"We can't allow local government inefficiencies, local government incompetence to put our people in danger,” Nemes said. "We have 120 counties, there are other big cities in the country, but people aren't dying like they are in Louisville's jail."
He said one idea is to try to get people charged with serious crimes out of the Louisville jail quicker.
Nemes said another idea is requiring more resources in LMDC, or he said the change could take an entire leadership overhaul. Either way, he said lawmakers in Frankfort will do what it takes.
"These are our neighbors and our citizens that are going into this jail,” Nemes said.
FOP President Daniel Johnson said he's been pushing efforts to work with lawmakers in Frankfort.
"We know that Louisville is just a small piece of the pie in the overall state of Kentucky, but we have a huge problem here,” Johnson said.
Johnson said one of the main problems continues to be staff. He said it played a role in Saturday's tragedy; LMDC reported a 32-year-old inmate was found unresponsive and rushed to UofL hospital where they died.
"We had 300 male inmates and we had 2 female officers working that area by themselves,” Johnson said. “It was about 8-10 minutes after the person fell out in the living area that the people in the dorm called for any help.”
While Johnson said there have been improvements, like increased searches and a new high-tech body scanner, he said there's more to be done. He wants to see a dedicated task force for overdoses that is made up of officers and community members.
“Just try to work together to find some kind of solutions because what we're doing on our own and what the leadership is doing on their own is not enough,” Johnson said.
The ACLU also responded to the latest death.
The organization continues its push to end cash bail, eliminating holding people from out of the county, and calling on Mayor Greg Fischer to do more. "The mayor needs to make systematic changes,” Policy Strategist Kungu Njuguna said. "It's tragic and it's infuriating."
Also, Njuguna said while it's great Nemes wants to get involved, it's contradictory to his bill, which would ban organizations from bailing out offenders charged with serious crimes. Nemes said the problem lies with the jail system, not his bill, which protects public safety.
On Friday, two detainees received life-saving medical attention after allegedly ingesting fentanyl prior to booking at Metro Corrections.
Council members recently voted yes on a "no-confidence" resolution related to LMDC Leadership. They also voted to initiate an independent investigation into the jail amid the recent string of deaths.
Mayor Greg Fischer is the only person who can remove the director from the position.
The Mayor's office released this statement on Monday:
"The incidents that occurred at the Louisville Department of Corrections over the weekend are very sad – especially the death of an inmate following a suspected overdose. Jails across the nation are facing difficult obstacles, including staffing shortages, challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic and a rise in suicides and deaths, and my team and I are committed to addressing those challenges here. Louisville Metro Police Department K-9’s have been at the jail over the past 72 hours and are being utilized to search inmate dorms for illegal substances. As with every facet of Metro Government, we are focused on identifying challenges and making whatever changes are necessary to resolve those challenges. That’s why we recently brought in two new Public Service Assistant Chiefs to help the jail’s leadership team, and an independent expert to conduct a third-party review of inmate deaths. These efforts are in addition to those we’ve taken to boost staffing, including raising officers pay to attract and retain quality workers, partnering with local and state officials to decrease the jail’s population (it’s currently at the lowest we’ve seen in recent years) and reviewing the jail’s medical provider’s processes. We share the community’s goal of preventing further tragedy and will continue to implement steps to ensure that we meet that goal."
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