Man found unresponsive on cell floor is Sedgwick County Jail’s first death this year
An inmate at the Sedgwick County Jail died Monday after he was found unresponsive in his cell, according to a news release from the Sheriff’s Office.
Staff at the jail found 29-year-old Rashawn Pleass, of Rockford, Illinois, on the floor in Pod 6 of the detention center around 10:10 p.m. Monday, the news release says. Staff “immediately notified” on-site medical personnel at the jail and Sedgwick County Emergency Medical Services, who responded and tried to revive him without success, the release says.
Pleass was pronounced dead about 40 minutes later. His cause of death was not released Tuesday.
“Pleass did not have any obvious signs of trauma and investigators are now awaiting an autopsy and toxicology,” Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Branden Stitt said by email.
Pleass was booked into the jail on Dec. 23, 2023, in connection with domestic battery and drug crimes and was scheduled for sentencing later this week on three counts: aggravated domestic battery, possession of methamphetamine and fentanyl possession, court and booking records show.
Pleass was convicted in December after entering guilty and no-contest pleas to those crimes, according to court records.
“The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) and the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office Investigations Division are now investigating the circumstances surrounding the death,” the release says. “... Further information will be released as it becomes available, pending the outcome of the investigation and notification of next of kin.”
Pleass’ death is the first of an inmate at the jail this year. There were five in-custody deaths at the jail in 2024, Stitt said by email.
This story was originally published January 21, 2025 at 12:48 PM.
