DeKalb County, GA — DeKalb County’s sheriff has announced the second inmate death of 2023.

“On June 28, 2023, officers were alerted that 37-year old [man from] Birmingham, Alabama was bleeding from numerous lacerations on his body while in his jail cell,” a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office says. “Emergency medical services were performed on site by jail and health services staff and DeKalb Fire Rescue EMS, but efforts to revive [the inmate] after he became unresponsive were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced deceased. The cause of death has not been released but preliminary reports indicate that his wounds may have been self-inflicted.”

The inmate was facing several charges, the Sheriff’s Office said. Because one of those charges is incest, Decaturish is not naming the inmate to avoid identifying the victim in this case.

“[The inmate] had been in custody at DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office without bond since June 8, 2023 after being arrested on warrants charging him with Rape (Felony), Incest (Felony), Battery-Family Violence First Offense (Misdemeanor), Cruelty to Children in the First Degree (Felony), Furnishing, Purchasing and Possession of Alcoholic Beverages by Persons Below Legal Age (Misdemeanor), and Possession of Less than an Ounce of Marijuana (Misdemeanor),” the Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said.

The first inmate death at the DeKalb Jail in 2023 occurred on May 29. Officials believe that the inmate’s death was a suicide.

Decaturish recently published a lengthy investigative story about deaths at the jail in 2022, the deadliest year in a decade. Wellpath, a contractor oversaw healthcare at the jail in 2022, but mental health was provided by Centurion, a different contractor. Several of the inmates who died in 2022 had a history of mental illness, records show.

The county sheriff recently announced that Armor Health will be taking over medical and mental health services at the jail.

But the company has faced litigation, investigations, and in one case a criminal conviction over deaths that have occurred in the numerous facilities where the company has a contract.

An Armor Health spokesperson said the company does not comment on pending litigation and the company did not directly respond when asked about the 2022 criminal conviction in Wisconsin. But the company, which has contracts at 52 facilities in 10 states, defended its record and its ability to provide adequate healthcare to DeKalb County Jail inmates. For more information about that story, click here.

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