A local activist group and the mothers of two inmates who died inside the Milwaukee County Jail are criticizing a recently released audit of the facility.
The Milwaukee County Board hired a Texas firm, Creative Corrections, to examine practices and conditions at the jail following a half-dozen in-custody deaths in 2022 and 2023, including two inmate suicides.
The audit identified "dangerous" suicide watch practices, poor leadership oversight, staffing shortages, inmate overcrowding and other issues.
However, Casey Serrano of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression says the audit process is "opaque."
“From the beginning, we have demanded substantial community input. Incarcerated individuals, formerly incarcerated Milwaukeeans, and their loved ones deserve input on the audit," Serrano said Monday at a news conference outside the Milwaukee County Safety Building.
Serrano says it’s wrong for the audit to call the jail’s mental health department a "significant strength" when the report also noted issues with suicide prevention.
Serrano is calling on Milwaukee County Sheriff Denita Ball to hold a town hall meeting about the audit.
Laquita Dunlap, whose son Brieon Green strangled himself in 2022 with a phone cord while still being booked into the jail, says a guard should have monitored Green more closely.
"Had he done a proper cell check, my son would have been here. You know, I feel he saw my son doing whatever it is they said he did to himself. It all could have been prevented," Dunlap says.
Dunlap, who has a pending legal case against the county, says the audit also highlights the need for better record-keeping of mental health problems that nurses or guards could view if the inmate had previously been at the jail.
Kerrie Hirte also has a legal case against the county following the suicide of her daughter, Cilivea Thyrion, at the jail two years ago.
Hirte also questions jailing people with documented mental health problems.
“My daughter had a Chapter 51, which is a statewide mental health submission. So, it should have automatically popped up when they arrested her. She should have automatically switched to one of our mental health institutions instead of the jail," Hirte said to reporters.
Hirte also tearfully summed up her concerns for the overall Milwaukee County Jail population: “I pray for all the families who have loved ones in there.”
The Milwaukee County Board's Audit Committee is expected to review the findings of Creative Corrections. Neither co-chair of the panel responded to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for Sheriff Ball says Ball looks forward to communicating openly with the board but adds that many of the practices discussed in the audit had already been changed or are in the process of changing. For example, newer hires at the jail are receiving more suicide prevention training earlier in their tenure, and a commanding officer is focusing on suicide watch occupants in a specialized housing unit.
The spokesperson said he would ask Ball or a chief deputy about speaking with WUWM. But as of this posting, no response had been received.
