In the last 15 months, three inmates have died at the Arlington County Detention Center in Virginia. They are the latest in a series of seven deaths dating back seven years.
In the last 15 months, three inmates have died at the Arlington County Detention Center in Virginia. They are the latest in a series of seven deaths dating back seven years.
The most recent was on Tuesday, when a 41-year-old homeless man suffered cardiac arrest in the prison infirmary.
Sheriff Beth Arthur said the man, Paul Thompson, should not have been there, noting he had no criminal record. Two questions concern him about what happened: being in jail and dying, and “Why are they in jail in the first place?”
Arthur admits that, like so many others in the Arlington jail, Thompson was there for mental health reasons.
Of the current 280 inmates, about 170 have mental health issues; 66 of them are serious. Even the longtime sheriff wants to know why the county is “throwing these people in jail when they need serious care.”
Arlington’s top public defender is exasperated. Brad Haywood said everyone knew Thompson was seriously mentally ill, but he was arrested for breaking and entering anyway. Haywood said Thompson was not hurting anyone, damaging property or causing any acts of violence. But he was still “caged”.
Arthur said that there is an unfortunate reason for that. “The system is so broken” that the jail has become Arlington’s mental health hospital, said Arthur, who has been in charge for 21 years.
Haywood agrees and goes a step further, saying that Arlington has “a disproportionate number of people with mental illness who are involved in the local criminal justice system.”
Arthur points to the lack of resources and space for those who need mental health and substance abuse treatment.
At Virginia Hospital Center, he said people sometimes have exceptionally long waits in the ER because there are no mental health beds. That is one of the reasons they become recluses.
But Julius Spain of the Arlington NAACP said there is another layer. There is an overwhelming number of black and brown inmates, and six of the seven who have died in prison over the last seven years were also people of color.
Haywood explored the rich urban profile of the police and the community as some factors to examine. Spain is looking for something more concrete; he is talking to the FBI and believes he may warrant a federal investigation because “this pattern of people dying” in jail has to end.
“When is enough, enough?” Spain said. He hopes the FBI will take a look at the facts and the culture, which he says needs to change.
Spain said the “mere death toll” should cause alarm on its own.
There is “a complete lack of oversight and accountability” from leadership, Spain said.
Arthur said his staff is diligent about checking inmates twice an hour and checking in nursing patients every 15 minutes. He also agrees to move forward if an investigation determines otherwise.
Corizon was the last county health contractor and ran the infirmary for more than 15 years, including during the seven years that several inmates died.
In October 2020, an inmate named Darryl Becton died. A year later, a former Corizon the nurse was charged with the falsification of records linked to his death.
Public Defender Haywood is deeply concerned about this and believes that most prison health contractors are not cut out for the job. Especially in a place like the Arlington jail, where mental health needs are paramount. When it comes to the infirmary, Haywood believes the county should run it, not a contractor.
On Wednesday, the county signed a contract with a new company called doctor.
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