On Friday, Jan. 15, 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 life saving measures and notified emergency medical services at 8:58 p.m. Emergency medical services 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 Friday, Jan. 15 the inmate 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 oversite to Assistant County Administrator Chip 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.
