Man dies after suicide try at Pima County Jail

A 38-year-old man died at a Tucson hospital Thursday, 5 days after he tried suicide on the Pima County Jail, officers mentioned.

Louis A. Williams was pronounced lifeless Thursday round 8:45 a.m., mentioned Deputy Gordon Downing, a spokesman for the Pima County Sheriff’s Division. 

Round 11:40 a.m. on Saturday, Could 20, a jail guard performing rounds found Williams making an attempt suicide, mentioned Downing. Corrections officers “instantly entered the cell” and commenced life-saving measures and waited
for medical workers and assist from Tucson Fireplace Division. Williams was taken to the hospital in crucial situation, the spokesman mentioned.

Detectives from the Sheriff’s Division Felony Investigations Division started an investigation, nevertheless, this has
“not revealed something suspicious, nor proof to point such,” he mentioned.

Williams was being held on the jail after his probation was revoked, in response to courtroom information, and he was charged with “illegal flight from a regulation enforcement car.” In January 2022, he was discovered responsible of stealing a automobile, in response to courtroom information.

In December, a memo despatched to the county Board of Supervisors confirmed that since 2017, 49 folks died in custody on the Pima County Jail. Since that memo was revealed, 4 different inmates have died, together with Williams. 

Yunan Mohammad Atlib Tutu, 26, died on Jan. 10. An post-mortem confirmed he was affected by hyponatremia—a situation the place his blood sodium ranges had been drastically low, and a toxicology display screen confirmed the dosage of his prescribed anti-psychotic remedy was “beneath the therapeutic vary,” in response to the Pima County Workplace of the Medical Examiner. 

Just a few weeks later, 61-year-old Jose Octavio Flores died. Flores had been hospitalized within the medical unit after he was concerned in a taking pictures at a sport’s bar in Tucson on Dec. 18. Flores was ejected from the bar on account of disruptive habits, however he later returned with a rifle and was shot by one other patron. Flores was handled at Banner College Medical Heart till Jan. 16, when he was taken into custody on the jail, the place he died 5 days afterward Jan. 23.

One other man died within the early morning hours on Could 21, nevertheless, PCSD has withheld his id whereas detectives find and notify his subsequent of kin.

Sheriff Chris Nanos mentioned final yr his facility is in a “full-blown disaster” at a “life-threatening stage” on account of overcrowding and under-staffing.

The Pima County Medical Examiner discovered since 2022, there have been 133 instances of people that died in “custodial agency-related deaths” in 4 of Arizona’s counties, together with Pima, Cochise, Santa Cruz, and Graham County. This consists of individuals who died whereas “interacting with” a police company, individuals who had been in custody, and people who died inside 30 days of their launch from police custody. 

Over the past two years, 30 folks died in reference to Pima County, together with 16
individuals who died from drug overdoses. In three instances, folks died from
suicide, and one other 18 instances concerned an accident of some form, in response to the information.

The database reveals that in 2023, 7 folks died in “custodial agency-related deaths” on the Pima County Grownup Detention Heart.