FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - The Broward Public Defender’s Office is demanding answers from the sheriff’s department as to why two inmates died within a week from each other in Broward County jails.
The Broward Public Defender and his chief assistant wrote Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony a letter on Tuesday demanding an immediate investigation.
The Broward County Sheriff’s Office responded with a letter on Friday morning saying the public defender’s office wants to “incite public opinion rather than to address a genuine concern for inmate welfare.”
“Our letter was not about political points. It was about accountability,” said Chief Assistant Public Defender Gordon Weekes.
Weekes said 41-year-old Craig Fahner died on June 1. Other inmates said his cries for medical help were ignored and that he had stopped drinking water and eating food before.
“It’s sad because they let him die,” said Valerie Fenton, Fahner’s aunt. “That’s how I feel. To me, they let him lay there and die, and for why? Over a petty theft charge?”
According to BSO’s letter, “no information has been found to substantiate the claim” of him avoiding food and water and claims he actually gained weight while in custody.
Exactly a week later, 47-year-old Joseph Saint Fleur died in jail while waiting for mental health treatment.
BSO said he suffered a heart attack, but Weekes said there must have been signs.
“One gentleman dying of heart attack raises a concern because it is an ongoing presentment of hypertension and other issues that may give rise to a heart attack,” said Weekes.
The two lives lost comes after an inmate cut off his penis inside the jail in 2018 while in solitary confinement for five months.
“The facts demonstrate that they are not doing their job to treat these people,” Weekes said. “You cannot place a mentally ill man in isolation to the point where he acts out and mutilates himself.”
BSO investigated the mutilation and said after that “no employee misconduct was identified.”
Shortly after the incident, Weekes said a pregnant woman endured seven hours of labor while in a cell alone, with no help.
“We are responsible for making sure that the folks within that facility are being treated accordingly,” said Weekes.
According to BSO’s letter, the medical provider at the jail has since fired two employees following the incident with the pregnant inmate and is now providing additional training.
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