The Escambia County Board of County Commissioners has scheduled a special meeting to discuss the new jail the county is planning to build. County staff and representatives from DLR Group Inc. will…
Tag: Escambia County Jail
County makes offer for jail site
by Duwayne Escobedo… After more than two years of haggling about where to rebuild a jail destroyed by flooding in April 2014, the five-member Escambia County Commission finally unanimously picked out a…
Escambia BCC discusses Local Option Gas Tax and Escambia Co. Jail on July 14
A special Board of County Commissioners Meeting has been scheduled for Thursday, July 14 at 9 a.m. to discuss issues concerning the Local Option Gas Tax and the Escambia County Jail. The…
Sarasota launches innovative approach to mental illness and criminal justice
Last night, the Sarasota City Commission voted to help fund a pilot program, Comprehensive Treatment Court, that aims to divert low-level, non-violent offenders with mental illness from the county jail and providing…
Escambia County Commission to discuss new jail on Feb. 25
The Escambia County Board of County Commission will hold a special workshop and meeting Thursday, Feb. 25 at 5 p.m. at the Ernie Lee Magaha Government Building Board Chambers, Room 100, 221…
Silent protest brought attention to Escambia County jail deaths
Over the past 15 months, seven men have died in the Escambia County Jail while awaiting trial. Three of those deaths were suicides. On Saturday, 60 family members and friends, joined by…
Families plan silent protest over Escambia County Jail deaths
From 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 20, several families who have had loved ones to be found dead in the Escambia County jail will gather for a time of…
Novel approach for repeat misdemeanor offenders with mental health issues
Sarasota County is trying to launch an innovative approach to dealing with mentally ill individuals arrested for minor crimes in hope of slowing the revolving door of a criminal justice system that…
Escambia Main Jail capacity 812, not 1,400
When the daily newspaper writes about the deaths in the Escambia County Jail, the reporters quote Margaret Noonan, a statistician for the Bureau of Justice Statistics: “Once you get over 1,500, the…
Another jail death
This morning I received a phone call regarding another death in the jail infirmary. Alfred Wesley,63, was found unresponsive in by infirmary staff during an hourly welfare check. Corrections officers and medical…
Exclusive: Family speaks out about jail death of Devon Averheart
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…
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…
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…
Escambia County issues statement on Sept. 1 jail death
Escambia County is releasing the identity of the inmate found unresponsive in his cell as 45-year-old Shawn Jordan (DOB: 11/4/1969). Jordan had been in jail since August 16, 2015 on $1,000 bond…
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…
