DeKalb County, GA — The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office has announced the fourth inmate death of 2023.

The death occurred four days ago, on Nov. 10, according to a press release.

“According to reports, officers were alerted to a medical emergency inside an inmate housing unit on Nov. 10, 2023,” a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office said. “Upon responding, officers found Michael Breedlove, 33, in his cell but unresponsive. Emergency medical services were performed on site by jail and health services staff, and Mr. Breedlove was transported to a local hospital, but efforts to revive Mr. Breedlove were unsuccessful and he was pronounced deceased. The cause of death has not been released by the medical examiner and the incident remains under investigation by the agency’s Office of Professional Standards.”

The Office of Professional Standards is under the purview of the sheriff. The sheriff’s spokesperson said Breedlove had been in the jail since July 2023 and was facing felony charges of purchasing and selling marijuana.

The spokesperson added no additional information is available.

For details about other inmate deaths this year, click here and here.

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 in June 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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