Kentucky Prison Deaths Unprecedented

The latest figures show that 234 prisoners have died in Kentucky prisons since 2020; most of them were awaiting trial.

According to WSWS, on November 4, 2021, Teri Beth Mays, a 32-year-old inmate at the Whitley Detention Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky, died after eight days in the facility; her first court hearing had not yet been held.

Prison surveillance camera footage shows the inmate breathing heavily and appearing delirious before falling and hitting her head on the cell toilet.

Although the incident was recorded on a prison security camera, it took about 30 minutes for a guard to enter her cell and notice that Mays was lying on the ground and unresponsive; the delay was compounded by the guard leaving the cell to call for help.

It is unclear whether Mays received first aid at the crucial moments before being taken to a local hospital, where she was later pronounced dead of heart failure due to dehydration.

The inmate’s mother filed a lawsuit against the prison in September 2023, alleging that Mays was not given prescribed seizure medication for the eight days she was held in custody.

Mays’ condition was not unknown to the Whitley Detention Center, and she had informed prison staff of her condition after her arrest.

She had also been held at the facility several times before, and her records at the facility indicated that she had a history of seizures and required hospitalization.

Despite all this, the death certificate of the inmate states that her death was the result of an accident, but the question remains: if Mays' death was an accident, how did hundreds of other inmates die in Kentucky prisons in the past four years?

According to the Lexington Herald Leader, about 234 inmates died in Kentucky prisons and jails between 2020 and 2024.

Of the 234 inmates who died, 165 were being held without conviction for the alleged crime for which they were arrested; meaning they were still legally innocent.

The death rate among inmates is a growing trend not only in Kentucky but across the United States.

The highest death rate among inmates in the US state of Kentucky was attributed to the 2020-2022 coronavirus outbreak; the number of deaths in 2022 reached 63.

Although the death rate for prisoners in Kentucky had been declining in recent years, it has started to rise again; in 2024 alone, 34 people died in custody, more than in any other year between 2008 and 2020.

Seven prisons in the state have reported the highest number of deaths since 2020; however, autopsy records for inmate deaths show that 40 percent were attributed to natural causes; 31 percent were considered accidental; and 20 percent were ruled suicides; only one homicide and one unexplained death were recorded.

While the exact number of prisoners who have died from COVID-19 in U.S. prisons and detention centers is largely unknown, a government report estimates that the death toll from the pandemic in prisons and detention centers is six times higher than in the general population.

At the start of the pandemic, the structure of prisons and detention centers, combined with unprecedented rates of overcrowding, made it impossible to implement protective measures to ensure the health of inmates and staff.

Prisons across the United States consistently underreport deaths; in some cases, prisons seek to circumvent their legal obligation to report deaths to state authorities by releasing people from custody just before they die.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) only requires data collection, but the data is not shared; in 2020, a media report estimated that prison deaths increased by 35 percent between 2009 and 2019, despite a decline in prison populations.

The natural and accidental classifications of deaths in U.S. prisons are problematic labels that obscure the circumstances that led to deaths in custody.

The Kentucky Department of Prisons blames the prisoners themselves for their rising mortality rate, citing drug addiction, general lifestyle risks, and the increase in the availability of highly potent drugs in the illegal drug supply.

Despite all these claims, there is a blatant disregard for the health of prisoners; Kentucky State Prisons refuses to take any responsibility for setting medical standards in local prisons.

Despite calls from human rights groups, Republicans and Democrats alike have responded by pursuing harsher policies targeting the most vulnerable segments of society through tougher crime laws.

Other states, including California, Georgia, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont, have proposed tougher laws.

This is not the first time that state officials in the United States have sought to increase penalties for crime, as local governments seek to make up for their budget shortfalls by running prisons as a lucrative industry, while tougher laws on crime only exacerbate overcrowding issues, leading to higher rates of inadequate medical care and inmate deaths.