Three words in a March 20 coroner’s report should turn your stomach: “gross medical neglect.”
That’s what Charleston County Coroner Bobbi Jo O’Neal concluded about the reason for the December death of 28-year-old D’Angelo Brown at the Al Cannon Detention Center.
It’s sickening to read a description of the treatment received by Brown, who “had been determined to be incompetent due to mental illness” when a state judge ordered Dec. 16 that he be hospitalized for “restorative treatment” through the state Department of Mental Health.
“Mr. Brown was not hospitalized and remained confined to his filthy observation cell within the Charleston County Detention Center’s behavior unit where his condition continued to decline,” attorney James B. Moore III wrote in a March 27 letter to federal authorities.
On Dec. 21, “Brown was found unresponsive in his cell and transported to MUSC. He was emaciated, dehydrated and in septic shock.” Brown didn’t regain consciousness. “The cause of death,” O’Neal wrote, “is E. Coli EAEC sepsis with septic shock and multiple organ system failure due to gross medical neglect. The manner of death is homicide.”
This should have never happened. Whenever anyone is in custody, he or she is in the care of the government. It has a moral and legal duty to keep inmates safe and alive. Unfortunately, death at the county jail is not uncommon. Since October 2021, seven inmates in the county’s custody have died, including Brown. Among the other causes of death: hanging, “apparent medical episode,” and suicide by jumping from a window. The latest death of 50-year-old Julian Jenkins on March 14 — six days after he was detained for missing court on a shoplifting charge — is under investigation.
As outlined in the letter by lawyers for Brown and Jenkins, we strongly encourage the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct a thorough investigation about what exactly is going on at the jail — whether there have been past civil rights violations or inappropriate staffing conditions, or inferior or inadequate health care services for inmates. Whatever the answers, Charleston County needs to fix problems at the jail instead of letting them linger and fester.
This week, the jail had a high-profile visit by U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-Charleston, and county council members, four of whom later asked for a federal investigation into detention operations. We’re glad for this attention, but it seems a little late, particularly when council has let jail problems ferment for years and now seems to be trying to shift blame.
Take note, county leaders: The problems at the jail
— understaffing, insufficient mental health treatment and more — have been inherited by Charleston County Sheriff Kristin Graziano, not something she created. And you should listen to her concerns about what you’re proposing for the jail, instead of just doing what you want.
In fact, instead of spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars for a controversial road extension across Johns Island that will drain scarce county resources, first fix problems impacting people, like those of inmates at the jail. Do a better job of prioritizing and making smart investments that put people first.
What’s happened at the county jail is an embarrassment. Fix it.
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