On Thursday, Nov. 19, Escambia County announced that 21-year old Samuel Devon Averheart had been found unresponsive in the infirmary unit of the Escambia County Main Jail. The jail’s medical staff called…
Category: Jail
County Corrections Director fired
County Administrator Jack Brown has fired his Director of Corrections, Mike Tidwell. Starting today, jail command, community corrections and road prison staff will report directly to Assistant County Administrator Chip Simmons until…
Underhill: Zero is the only acceptable standard on jail deaths
On News Talk 1370 WCOA’s “Pensacola Speaks,” Escambia County Commissioner Doug Underhill was interviewed about the six deaths in the county jail over the past 13 months. “We haven’t heard a good…
Former jail mental health counselor says infirmary lacks full-time medical staff
Lynn Laird worked for Prison Health Services as a mental health counselor in charge of all the men and juveniles in the county jail. Prison Health Services had the contract for medical…
Jail infirmary is not the same under county
When you ask Escambia County Administrator Jack Brown and some of the county commissioners about the rise of suicides and other deaths in the county jail, the standard reply has been that…
May 2015 death points to problems with jail infirmary
Since Nov. 1, 2014, the Escambia Board of County Commissioners has had six deaths in its county jail, three of which were suicides. Nationally, around 80 percent of all local jails have…
Escambia County Jail deaths among highest in nation
The DOJ Bureau of Justice Statistics tracks deaths in jails. Escambia County’s six jail deaths place among the most in the nation for a local jail. The vast majority of local jails…
Official statement on jail death
Inmate Found Unresponsive, Pronounced Dead on Scene An inmate died at the Escambia County Main Jail after being found unresponsive Wednesday, Nov. 19 from an apparent medical condition. Escambia County Corrections medical…
Talking about jail sites
by Jeremy Morrison Across the front of the room a series of renderings rested on easels, each detailing potential sites for a new Escambia County jail. One visual aid in particular seemed…
Buzz: Another death in the Escambia County Jail – Update
There has been another death at the Escambia County Jail, the fifth in past 11 months. Assistant County Administrator Chip Simmons told Inweekly that a male prisoner was found in his cell…
Castle Greyskull gets a reprieve…until next meeting
The meetings of the Escambia Board of County Commissioners are circular events. Ideas, opinions and facts go round and round, and sometimes a decision pops out. Such was the case in today’s…
Kelley Bradford and other jail explosion victims face uncertain future under state’s workers comp law
By T.S. Strickland This month hasn’t been a good one for Kelley Bradford. The Escambia County jail employee, who saved the life of Corrections Officer Chris Hankinson during last year’s explosion at…