MILWAUKEE (AP) – A jury recommended criminal charges against seven Milwaukee County jail staffers in the dehydration death of an inmate who went without water for seven days.
The jury’s recommendation Monday came after a six-day inquest that included testimony from jail staff and evidence from county prosecutors. The jury found probable cause for “abuse of a resident of a penal facility” in the death of 38-year-old Terrill Thomas on April 24, 2016.
The jurors recommended charges against two jail supervisors, Nancy Evans and Kashka Meadors, and five officers: James Ramsey-Guy, JorDon Johnson, Thomas Laine, Dominique Smith and John Weber.
It’s up to prosecutors whether to file charges. Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm said he had no timeline to decide, and that he could charge more people – or fewer.
The six-person jury returned its recommendation just a few hours after morning testimony that the sheriff’s office continued using water deprivation as a form of punishment even after Thomas’ death. Prosecutors presented jurors with jail logs documenting two cases in which disobeying inmates had water to their cells turned off – both within a month of Thomas dying. One of the cases happened a week after Thomas’ death and in both subsequent instances it wasn’t clear when it was turned back on.