Sheriff’s Office investigating after jail inmate dies Wednesday morning
A 30-year-old Wichita man incarcerated in the Sedgwick County Adult Detention Facility died early Wednesday morning, prompting an investigation into the jail’s first in-custody death of the year.
It happened after 1:30 a.m. on March 25 while staff responded to help the inmate, who was experiencing a medical emergency, a press release from the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office said. While they were assessing him, the man became unresponsive and stopped breathing; he was pronounced dead at 2:28 a.m.
An autopsy performed at the Sedgwick County Regional Forensic Science Center later that morning indicated the preliminary cause of death was pulmonary thromboembolism, an often fatal condition in which a lung artery becomes blocked.
The man’s family has since been notified of his death, and his name is being withheld at their request, the release read. He had been in custody at the jail since Dec. 2, 2025, on burglary, criminal deprivation of property and traffic-related charges.
His death is the first reported in-custody death at the jail of 2026. Last year, there were six in-custody deaths at the jail.
