Probe underway into man's death inside county jail
Officials say he had an episode during medical assessment
SAN JOSE >> An investigation is underway into the in-custody death of an inmate at the Santa Clara County Main Jail in San Jose, authorities said.
On Monday, the San Jose Police Department booked the 58-year-old man on a felony bench warrant for false imprisonment, the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.
The man was reportedly undergoing a “routinely scheduled medical assessment” at 11 p.m. Tuesday when he had an adverse health episode.
“During the medical assessment, the male inmate was alert and standing,” the sheriff's office said. “Suddenly, he began to experience (a) medical emergency and was assisted down to his bed.”
Medical staff attempted lifesaving measures; at 11:46 p.m., the man was taken to a hospital, the Sheriff's Office said, but he was pronounced dead 50 minutes later. The Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner's Office said the public release of the man's name was pending formal identification and notification of his next of kin.
A preliminary investigation found no signs of foul play, and the man was housed alone prior to the medical assessment, the Sheriff's Office said, adding the agency is following standard protocol for an incustody death by conducting a joint investigation with the county district attorney and coroner's offices.
“At this time, no further information will be released pending confirmation that the next of kin has been notified and there is more information from the investigation,” the Sheriff's Office said.
The incident marked the third in-jail death of the year recorded in Santa Clara County. On Feb. 6, a 27-year-old man being prosecuted on a murder charge out of San Jose was found unresponsive in his cell at the Main Jail. The coroner's office later determined that the man died by suicide.
On Feb. 20, a 44-year-old man in custody at the Elmwood men's jail in Milpitas, who was being prosecuted on theft charges out of Milpitas, was found unresponsive by a man sharing a cell with him. He died at a hospital a short time later. The coroner's office determined that he died from an accidental overdose of fentanyl and methamphetamine.