FBI launching investigation after 3 inmates found dead at Louisville Metro Corrections
By Shaquille Lord
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LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (WLKY) — The FBI is now launching a civil rights investigation into the death of an inmate at Metro Corrections.
There were three deaths in less than one week at Metro Corrections. Director Dwayne Clark told Metro Council members Wednesday one of those cases prompted him to reach out to the FBI for help.
“It is my intent to focus on what happened, why it happened, how do we move forward,” said Councilwoman Jessica Green.
While director Dwayne Clark said the autopsy results won’t be completed for a few weeks, he provided details about each inmate and said there were officers near each cell when it happened.
“The police investigation and the LMDC investigation will determine whether the men or women at work did their jobs right and I hope that they did,” Clark said.
Inmate one, Kenneth Hall, had a history of heart problems. Inmate two, Rickitta Smith, died in her sleep and had a history of drug issues. Inmate three, a woman in her late 40s, died by suicide.
Clark said he couldn’t explain which case the FBI is investigating, but him not being sure how many inmates in total this year died while in custody, prompted this response from one council member.
“My intent coming through the door was not to beat you up, but to get questions to tough answers, but I gotta level with you; you make that kind of hard for me when you start out with not knowing how many people lost their lives while in your custody,” said Councilman Mark Fox.
Clark said while not getting into specifics, he wants guards doing checks on inmates every 30 minutes. With the jail already overcrowded and understaffed, Louisville Corrections FOP President Daniel Johnson says more workers means more frequent checks and possibly a safer jail.
“If we had more people there working, we could check on these folks every 10 minutes, every 15 minutes; if we had enough people, we could check on them every five minutes,” Johnson said.
While efforts are being made to recruit and retain more workers at the jail, Clark told city leaders a short-term investment to address safety would be an investment made for technology, like body scanners and X-ray machines. a request city leaders say they’ll gladly take a look at.
“I don’t seem to think there’s any type of person here, speaking on behalf of my colleagues, that would not want to do that so we look forward so we look forward to receiving that request,” Green said.
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