People Keep Dying At This Memphis Jail — And The Lawsuits Are Piling Up

Deion Byrd would have turned 26 years previous on Jan. 31. His father, Marcus Byrd, instructed HuffPost that Deion often spent his birthdays along with his household, watching tv and consuming a few of his mom’s cooking at their residence in Memphis, Tennessee.

“He liked joking and things like that,” Marcus stated. “He wanted to rap and made a few mixtapes. He had dreams of doing things he could enjoy.”

Last yr, Deion Byrd was concerned in a automotive crash that led to a person’s demise. Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy alleged that Byrd and one other man have been evading police in a getaway car linked to organized robberies at native liquor shops. Byrd was within the passenger seat.

Byrd was indicted on costs of theft, housebreaking, vehicular murder and first-degree homicide and was despatched to the Shelby County jail on June 24.

On Oct. 26, he was set to seem earlier than a decide for an arraignment and was in a holding cell within the Shelby County courthouse with one other inmate, Donnie Clay, 21. Byrd and Clay started arguing after Byrd accused Clay of breaking into his residence.

Clay allegedly stabbed Byrd within the neck with a shank. Byrd died at a close-by hospital. “How could we not be able to protect another inmate from being killed?” Shelby County Judge Paula Skahan stated after the incident. “That’s our job, to make sure everyone is safe in our system, and we couldn’t do it.”

His household additionally had questions. “Deion was already in a place that was already crumbling,” Marcus Byrd instructed HuffPost. “There is no structure there, and they don’t have enough people to watch everybody.”

Byrd’s household filed a wrongful demise lawsuit final month — the third filed in opposition to the jail up to now yr, all of them ongoing. The Byrd household’s swimsuit alleged that poor staffing and neglect led to the deaths of prisoners within the facility.

In current years, the Shelby County jail has grown extra lethal than the notoriously harmful Rikers Island jail complicated in New York.

While Rikers had 16 deaths between January and December 2021, the Shelby County jail had 10 deaths. In 2022, the Shelby County jail deaths elevated to 14 for the yr whereas Rikers Island had 17, regardless of having two and a half occasions the inhabitants.

The Shelby County sheriff’s division declined to touch upon the jail’s demise charge, on allegations from inmates’ relations, or on the continued lawsuits.

The U.S. Department of Justice started investigating the Shelby County jail in 2000 on account of a number of allegations of extreme violence and insufficient prisoner supervision. The findings confirmed circumstances within the jail have been violating the constitutional rights of prisoners, and that the ability didn’t have ample supervision of prisoners, resulting in repeated incidents of inmate-on-inmate violence.

In May 2020, the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee filed a federal class motion lawsuit in opposition to the jail demanding the discharge of inmates who have been vulnerable to getting COVID-19. The lawsuit stated the jail violated constitutional rights and didn’t meet minimal statutory necessities. An settlement was reached in 2021 that the jail would implement modifications to enhance circumstances and management the unfold of the virus higher.

A complete of 52 inmates have died within the jail since 2016.

Shelby County courtroom information word 31 violations amongst county correctional officers from June 2018 to September 2021. The disciplinary actions vary from oral and written reprimands to suspensions and firings.

In one incident, a correctional officer pepper-sprayed a prisoner whereas enclosed within the cell with them. Another officer was caught on surveillance footage pushing an inmate down a set of steps. Elsewhere, an officer was seen on digicam punching an inmate a number of occasions and spraying him with a chemical agent. In the latter two incidents, officers have been discovered to be within the incorrect however solely obtained oral reprimands, in keeping with Shelby County sheriff’s division information.

Only one officer, Frederick McCloud, was fired for his or her actions. McCloud was indicted on felony misconduct and aggravated assault costs on Nov. 13, 2019, after he assaulted a prisoner who was handcuffed, inflicting important head accidents.

Marcus Donald’s household filed a $75 million lawsuit in November in opposition to Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner, claiming that his workers did nothing to guard Donald after a number of demise threats from different prisoners.

Donald, 38, was strangled to demise by a cellmate on Nov. 17, 2022. He was the thirty fifth particular person to die in Shelby County custody since 2019, and the 14th particular person to die in 2022 alone, in keeping with the swimsuit.

Donald’s cellmate, Stephen Robinson, pleaded responsible to homicide in November of final yr.

Gershun Freeman, 33, additionally died whereas in custody on the jail in 2022. Freeman’s household stated he had psychological well being points and was experiencing an episode when he allegedly lunged at officers from his cell.

In video of the deadly encounter, a number of deputies might be seen spraying and punching Freeman, who was Black. Nine deputies have been indicted in Freeman’s demise; two of the deputies have been charged with homicide.

“We want justice at the end of the day. A life was taken,” his spouse, Nicole Freeman, instructed HuffPost. “We are thinking of the families that would have to deal with these issues in the future.”

And earlier this yr, Ramon McGhee, a Black man, died within the jail whereas awaiting trial. Correctional officers discovered McGhee, 42, unresponsive on Jan. 12, coated in lice and bedbugs. His demise prompted an investigation from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations. An official post-mortem has not been launched to find out McGhee’s method of demise, and an investigation is ongoing.

Bonner, who oversees the jail and has been cited in prior wrongful demise lawsuits in reference to the ability, stated officers did not deal with McGhee’s situation whereas he was being held there.

“Unfortunately, directions concerning his cell cleaning and personal hygiene were disregarded, and crucial information was withheld,” Bonner stated in a press release launched this month. “Those within the Sheriff’s Office who neglected their responsibilities regarding this tragic incident are not reflective of our values.”

McGhee’s attorneys performed an unbiased post-mortem and launched findings to the general public Friday, figuring out that he died because of extreme malnutrition, hunger, dehydration and intensive insect infestation.

“It is not just that the guards in there can act barbaric,” stated Brice Timmons, who’s representing Freeman’s household. “It is that when they have people in there that are really vulnerable, there is little to no screening and treatment for that.”

After Byrd’s demise, Bonner acknowledged the officers’ failures and started knowledgeable requirements investigation. “Until we get our staffing levels up, we’re trying to make do with what we have,” Bonner instructed Fox13, a Memphis tv affiliate, saying that after Byrd’s case, the division went by its insurance policies.

Bonner instructed the information station Byrd’s case continues to be underneath investigation.

But Bonner has remained defiant within the face of the indictments regarding Freeman’s demise. He was working for Memphis mayor on the time, and claimed it was a political assault in opposition to him.

“I stand with these officers and I believe if I were not running for another office, then these indictments never would have happened. I find this despicable,” Bonner stated at a press convention. He additionally stated he would begin or donate to a fundraiser for every of the deputies criminally charged. (He in the end misplaced his bid for mayor.)

“It was really devastating to know and actually hear the comments he made,” Nicole Freeman stated. “He displayed no remorse and no empathy toward not just the family, but the whole situation itself.”