Four inmates died in Kansas prisons. Illegal drugs may have played a role, KDOC says

Kansas prison officials are investigating whether illegal drugs played a role in four inmate deaths in four days, including one who was a convicted child sex offender from Wichita.

Kansas Department of Corrections inmates Kendrick Devon Gracey, Quinn Ortiz Martin, Ethen Joseph Thornton and Jeremy Wayne Waller died over the weekend, a KDOC spokesperson said in a news release. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is investigating the deaths.

Autopsies are pending and causes of death have not been determined, but prison officials are investigating whether illegal drugs played a role.

Thornton died Friday morning and Martin died Friday afternoon at hospitals. Thornton had been housed at Hutchinson Correctional Facility, and Martin had been housed at Larned Correctional Mental Health Facility. Gracey died Saturday night at El Dorado Correctional Facility, and Waller died Monday morning at Hutchinson Correctional Facility.

Gracey, 34, was a convicted child sex offender from Sedgwick County. Waller, 27, was in prison after theft and burglary convictions in Sedgwick County. Thornton, 28, was convicted of robbery in Shawnee County, and Martin, 30, was convicted of drug crimes in Geary County.

Gracey was in prison after an October 2018 parole violation, KDOC records show. He was previously convicted of aggravated indecent liberties with a child in Sedgwick County.

Sedgwick County District Court records show Gracey was arrested in 2006 after a 12-year-old girl told Wichita police that she woke up on a living room couch as Gracey sexually touched her. He pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to 55 months in prison, or just over 4 1/2 years, with lifetime supervision.

Kansas law at the time typically required offenders with an aggravated indecent liberties conviction to serve life in prison with a chance for parole after 25 years. But the judge granted him a downward departure, court records show, because of his “inability to appreciate criminality based on low functioning.” Gracey had an IQ of 50 and was 21 years old at the time of the offense.

Gracey was released from prison in May 2011, but returned to prison within a year because of a parole violation, KDOC records show. He was released again in April 2018, but returned to El Dorado in October 2018 after another parole violation.

Waller was convicted of aggravated burglary, theft and making a false writing in March 2017 in Sedgwick County. District Court records show he was accused of stealing jewelry and other property after breaking into a home then pawning the property. He had been transferred from El Dorado to Hutchinson earlier this month.

Martin was convicted of drug possession in Geary County in 2009, 2013 and 2015. He died three days after he was transferred from Larned to El Dorado.

Thornton was convicted of robbery in Shawnee County in 2016, and had a prior aggravated kidnapping conviction from 2008. He had been housed at Hutchinson since 2017.

This story was originally published April 29, 2019 at 4:21 PM with the headline "Four inmates died in Kansas prisons. Illegal drugs may have played a role, KDOC says."