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| Police Probe Unusual Inmate Death |
| By The Miami Herald |
| Published: 02/13/2006 |
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Authorities are investigating the death of a mentally ill Miami-Dade, Florida, jail inmate found in his cell with a body temperature nearly 20 degrees below normal, according to police and jail documents. Willie Daniels died in the emergency surgery room at Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital on Jan. 29. His core temperature was 79 degrees, according to a police report. No cause of death has been determined, according to the Miami-Dade medical examiner's office. As is routine with inmate deaths, Miami-Dade homicide detectives are investigating. Daniels, 47, was being held in a psychiatric wing on the ninth floor of the Miami-Dade County Jail. He was awaiting trial on charges of burglary and resisting arrest. ''We are extremely concerned that Mr. Daniels, one of our clients, died in the mental health floor of the county jail, apparently of hypothermia,'' Miami-Dade Public Defender Bennett Brummer said. Daniels was found under his bunk bed around 5 p.m. after not responding for meal time, according to documents obtained by The Miami Herald. He was taken to the jail's clinic, where he was examined by a nurse at 5:19 p.m. An ambulance was called four minutes later. He was pronounced dead at Ryder Trauma Center at 5:43 p.m., the documents show. He had ''multiple cardio pulmonary arrests'' -- meaning his heart and lungs shut down -- but ''what caused the death remained unknown,'' according to corrections documents. A doctor determined his ''core body temp was 79 degrees,'' a Miami-Dade police report said. It's unclear what factors led to this low body temperature. Also unclear is what Daniels was wearing or what, if any, bedding he had in his cell. ''This tragedy is shocking, especially in an area of the jail where the inmates are supposed to be under continuous scrutiny,'' Brummer said. ``This is one more example of the failure of our healthcare and criminal justice system to protect those most in need of their attention.'' Veteran pathologists also found the case puzzling. Dr. Joseph Davis, Miami-Dade County's former medical examiner, said his office rarely saw cases of hypothermia, though he could remember one incident involving someone who stowed away in a refrigerated railroad car. ''We just don't see it like they do in places like Minnesota,'' Davis said. He added that if Daniels ''were lying on a cold floor,'' his body temperature could drop significantly. Davis said he would want to know the temperature inside the jail's psychiatric ward. |
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