2nd inmate dies at Pima County Jail in September

A 36-year-old man died on the Pima County jail early Tuesday morning whereas within the detox wing, marking the second time this month an individual being held has died on the facility.

Aaron Moore was pronounced lifeless after he was discovered “unresponsive in his cell” throughout a security examine within the jail’s detox statement unit round 1 a.m., mentioned Deputy Adam Schoonover, a spokesman for the Pima County Sheriff’s Division.

Tucson Fireplace Division personnel responded to the jail and life-saving makes an attempt have been made, however have been unsuccessful, Schoonover mentioned.

Detectives from the PCSD murder unit started an investigation and processed the scene, gathered proof and carried out interviews, he mentioned. 

“They didn’t determine any suspicious circumstances,” Schoonover added. 

An post-mortem was carried out by the Pima County Workplace of the Medical Examiner, however has not been launched pending a toxicology report. Schoonover wrote that the ME’s workplace “believes the loss of life is said to a medical concern,” and the investigation is ongoing.

Moore pleaded responsible to 2 counts of housebreaking in July 2017 and was positioned on probation for 5 years. Nonetheless, in December 2020 that probation was revoked and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest as a result of he modified his deal with with out telling the court docket, traveled out of Arizona, and did not undergo drug and alcohol testing as required.

In mid-September, he was arrested once more, and charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a narcotic. Whereas Pima County prosecutors dismissed these expenses Monday morning, Moore remained within the jail, in response to court docket data, apparently as a result of arrest warrant associated to not complying with probation.

Moore is the second particular person to die on the Pima County jail in September, after 40-year-old Casey Krizan died behind bars on Sept. 3. 

Simply earlier than midnight Krizan was additionally discovered “unresponsive” in his cell throughout a security examine. 

“Regardless of makes an attempt to save lots of his life, they have been unsuccessful, and he was declared deceased,” wrote Schoonover. 

“It is necessary to notice that Krizan had been coping with varied medical situations since his preliminary reserving,” Schoonover wrote, “however it stays unsure if any of those illnesses performed a task in his loss of life.”

The Medical Examiner’s Workplace has not launched Krizan’s post-mortem.

Committee considers new facility

Since 2017, 58 individuals have died whereas in custody on the Pima County
jail, together with 12 who died in 2022. In 2023, 9 extra individuals died
in custody, affected by deadly medical situations, acute intoxication
of fentanyl and methamphetamine, and no less than one suicide.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos mentioned final yr his facility is in a “full-blown disaster” at a “life-threatening degree” because of overcrowding and under-staffing. In a memo to the Board of Supervisors final December, Nanos warned that the jail had reached 92 % of its operational capability whereas the variety of corrections officers decreased 30 % in 2022.

That very same month, Nanos requested for assist to construct a brand new jail, and the county supervisors created a “Blue Ribbon Fee” after Nanos “ardently requested” assist to move a half-cent gross sales tax to fund the development of a brand new Grownup Detention Complicated. The present facility was in-built 1984, and has “essential infrastructure and capability points,” county officers mentioned, including that over the past 4 many years there have been adjustments in laws, applied sciences, and inmate populations affecting the jail, and that “wants are vital.”

The county would wish to safe almost $400 million to construct the brand new 3,100-bed facility that Nanos requested. Nonetheless, the measure has run into critical opposition from No Jail Deaths and group members. In August, a gathering of the fee was scuttled after protesters, led by a brass band, interrupted the assembly.

The fee, which later met nearly, was set to fulfill once more on Sept. 21, however that assembly was cancelled and has not been rescheduled.

‘We get quite a lot of sick individuals in our jail’

Nanos touched on the inmate deaths on September 7 throughout an occasion highlighting the county’s new Transition Heart on the jail. 

Launched in August, the middle sits in a modest trailer on the east finish of the jail advanced, and was designed to assist individuals not too long ago launched from custody for non-violent, non-dangerous misdemeanors. Contained in the transition middle, navigators with the county’s Justice Providers assist individuals hook up with housing, employment sources, substance use therapy, psychological well being therapy, and transportation.

Nanos mentioned his jail’s inhabitants exceeded 1,900 that morning, spiking above pre-COVID years. A yr earlier the inhabitants was near 1,700, Nanos mentioned and figures have been “not getting higher.” 

Nanos additionally advised the group — together with members of the Pima County Board of Supervisors and Pima County Administrator Jan Lesher — deflection packages have been necessary to  guarantee “those that do not belong in incarceration” aren’t held within the jail. 

“It is a first step to that,” Nanos mentioned, including that the transition middle “provides them some alternatives to possibly get it proper.”

Corrections officers are “educated to cope with unhealthy individuals — they will deal with it,” Nanos mentioned. Nonetheless, his officers are “not educated to cope with those that endure from psychological well being points, and people who endure from substance abuse.”

“We should not be anticipated to deal with each drawback society has,” Nanos mentioned. “That’s the reason we’ve got courts.”

He additionally alluded to Krizan’s situation. 

“We simply had one other loss of life in our jail,” Nanos mentioned, from a person “who got here to us with every kind of medical illnesses—extreme medical illnesses.”

“We get quite a lot of sick individuals in our jail,” Nanos mentioned.