FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Custody concerns at a South Florida jail after a pair of inmates unexpectedly died. As 7’s Brian Entin tells us, the Broward Public Defender’s Office is demanding an immediate investigation.
The two inmates died inside Broward County jails in just one week.
Gordon Weekes, Public Defender’s Office: “I’m very concerned, and that is why now that we have seen this pattern, we are again asking that the sheriff take some immediate action.”
The Broward Public Defender and his chief assistant wrote Sheriff Gregory Tony a letter Tuesday demanding that he “immediately investigate the high number and frequency of deaths within the jails.”
On June 1, the Public Defender’s Office said 41-year-old Craig Fahner died after other inmates said his cries for medical help were ignored. Fahner had reportedly stopped drinking water and eating food in the past.
Valerie Fenton, victim’s aunt: “It is sad because they let him die. That is how I feel. To me, they let him lay there and die, and for why? Over a petty theft charge?”
And seven days later, on June 7, 47-year-old Joseph Saint Fleur died in jail.
The Public Defender’s Office said Fleur died while waiting for mental health treatment.
Gordon Weekes: “We don’t have a very clear picture as to why they died because it is very early on and the delays in investigating these deaths.”
The deaths come after 7News first reported that an inmate cut off his penis inside the jail last year.
Investigators said he used the blade from a razor. He was in solitary confinement for nearly five months when he mutilated himself.
That inmate called 7News after the first story aired.
Voicemail: “I was recently incarcerated at the Broward County main jail, where I removed my penis.”
Earlier this year, the Broward Sheriff’s Office signed an agreement to improve conditions in their jails, but the public defender questions whether those improvements are really happening.
Brian Entin: “You have written a letter to the sheriff before about concerns inside the jail. Has he called you to explain any of this?”
Gordon Weekes: “No, and that is what is so concerning.”
7News has reached out to the Broward Sheriff’s Office for comment about the deaths but have not responded.
Meanwhile, the Public Defender’s Office said 10 inmates died in Broward County jails in 2018, but it remains unknown whether they died while in custody or when they got to the hospital.
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