Sedgwick County inmate tested positive for COVID-19, was on ventilator before death
A Sedgwick County Jail inmate who died Monday had tested positive for COVID-19 and was on a ventilator following his hospitalization earlier this month, according to a news release from the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office.
The death is the second in-custody death reported at the jail this year. The release said the inmate’s official cause of death will be determined during an autopsy.
If the coroner rules COVID-19 to be the cause, the death will be the first of an in-custody inmate at the Sedgwick County Jail from the disease.
The man, whose name was not released by the agency at the family’s request, was 68 and facing felony sex crime charges. The Sheriff’s Office said he was booked into the jail late last month and was admitted to the hospital on Oct. 29 over concerns about his mental status.
The hospital discharged the inmate two days later and he returned to the jail, where he received medical care in the on-site clinic.
The inmate was taken back to the hospital on Nov. 6 after he fell, the Sheriff’s Office news release said.
“After being admitted to the hospital this inmate was placed in intensive care and eventually on a ventilator. While in the hospital this inmate tested positive for COVID-19,” according to the release.
He was pronounced dead shortly before 3 p.m. Monday.
“The inmate’s family was notified on November 20, 2020 about the inmate’s serious medical condition and they were allowed to visit him several times this weekend,” the release said.
Sheriff’s Capt. Keith Allen said Tuesday that it’s unclear whether the inmate became infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 at the jail or at the hospital because he was housed at both locations in the 14 days prior to testing positive.
But Allen said he thinks the inmate “contracted it after he was initially booked into jail,” based on information about the virus’ incubation period provided by the Centers for Disease Control and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
The other inmate death of the year occurred on Aug. 15. In that case, a detention deputy found a 39-year-old man attempting suicide in his jail cell on Aug. 13. He died two days later from his injuries at a Via Christi St. Francis Hospital.
The jail has booked more than 16,000 people in 2020.
This story was originally published November 23, 2020 at 6:40 PM.
