Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Outside probe sought in Trump devotee's recent jail deaths

Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke is said to be under consideration for appointment to the position of Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, but four recent deaths - - included one listed as a homicide because an inmate died of dehydration after his cell's water was cut off by jail staffers - - in the jail he manages - - are provoking calls for an independent investigation.

Does that sound like a management situation you'd insert atop the largest federal agency in the government?

More here from earlier this month:

[Updated from 11/17 - - Official report lays out persistent jail mismanagement:
Three deaths at the Milwaukee County Jail all came after mistakes in medical care or potentially poor monitoring of vulnerable inmates, according to a new report issued by a court-ordered monitor of the facility. 
The monitor, who is a physician, also found more than one-third of all medical positions at the County Jail and House of Correction remain vacant, an issue he said makes it "extremely difficult" to properly treat inmates.
[Updated from 11/12 - - A female inmate alleges jailers laughed, ignored her labor and failed to provide medical assistance when she gave birth in the jail earlier this year. Her baby did not live, and now there is a lawsuit.]

Controversial and bombastic Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke - - he once pulled his deputies from a security detail routinely shared with other agencies during a Presidential visit to Milwaukee to underscore a budget complaint - -  said to on the short list of possible nominees to head up the Department of Homeland Security, but does Team Trump know there have been four recent deaths in the jail which Clarke runs?

Including one inmate who died of dehydration in a cell where the water had been shut off, according to a September 15th story in The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

The death of an inmate in the Milwaukee County Jail has been ruled a homicide, four months after corrections officers reportedly cut off his water supply for an extended period of time. 
The cause of death was dehydration, with other significant conditions including bipolar disorder, according to autopsy results released Thursday by the Milwaukee County medical examiner's office.
David Clarke by Gage Skidmore.jpg
And that any male official or critic who might question Clarke might have his manhood questioned?

A piece by Aaron Blake in the Washington Post features Clarke among potential Trump Cabinet posts who might make "liberals squirm."

In this case, maybe politics or philosophy isn't the criteria.

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