Sedgwick County inmate with chronic health issues and positive COVID-19 test dies

A 60-year-old inmate with a history of a chronic health issue and who had tested positive for COVID-19 died Thursday, the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office said.

Lester L. Jacobs had been in jail since July 16 and was taken to an area hospital Aug. 4 after “showing decreases in cognitive functions,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release. He tested positive for COVID-19 once he arrived at the hospital and died just before noon Thursday.

“The preliminary cause of death is unknown pending an autopsy,” the sheriff’s office said.

Jacobs was in jail on felony charges of violating the offender registration act and parole violation, the sheriff’s office said. It’s the first in-custody death of 2021.

Information partly obtained through an open records request showed about 30% of inmates tested positive for COVID-19 from March 2020 to March 2021. There were more than 3,000 tests during that time.

Additionally, Lt. Benjamin Blick said in May that three inmates who tested positive for COVID-19 had gone to the hospital and one of them died.

The jail has booked more than 13,000 people this year.