A 70-year-old man dies at the Shelby County Jail; TBI investigating

Lucas Finton, Memphis Commercial Appeal
Updated ·3 min read
Shelby Count Justice Center can be seen here at 201 Poplar Avenue on August 14, 2023 in Memphis, Tenn.
Shelby Count Justice Center can be seen here at 201 Poplar Avenue on August 14, 2023 in Memphis, Tenn.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating the death of a 70-year-old man at the Shelby County Jail at 201 Poplar Ave.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation was called to investigate by Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy on Aug. 22; few details were provided Tuesday.

The man was identified by TBI as Thomas Earl Williams.

It is not clear why Williams was in jail and his case does not pop up in the Shelby County Criminal Justice Portal, nor the Shelby County Inmate Lookup database.

A man named Thomas Earl Williams, with the same birthdate as the man TBI identified, did appear in a search of the Tennessee Department of Corrections' Felony Offender Information Lookup. This man is also identified as being on active supervision through the Memphis Probation and Parole Reporting Center.

More: This health condition is a leading cause of death in the US. And in the Shelby County Jail

However, it was not immediately clear if this was the man who died at the Shelby County Jail.

The Shelby County Sheriff's Office, which runs the jail, confirmed Williams' death, but said it could not comment further due to the TBI investigation.

At least six other people have died in the custody of the Shelby County Sheriff's Office in 2023, though not all of those deaths have taken place inside the Shelby County Jail. Since 2016, there have been at least 52 deaths at the jail — which includes a sharp increase in deaths and mortality rates over the last three years. Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner, who is a frontrunner in the Memphis mayoral race, has been in office for those three years. That increase mirrors a nationwide increase in jail deaths.

The latest death at the jail comes at a time when 201 Poplar is under increased scrutiny following the death of Gershun Freeman, an inmate who died in October 2022. The Shelby County Sheriff's Office declined to release footage from the incident, but that footage was later released by the Davidson County District Attorney's Office, which is investigating the death.

The footage showed Freeman run from his cell, appearing to be naked, and then being hit by numerous corrections officers. Corrections officers could be seen chasing Freeman as he slips on the ground and the corrections officers begin to hold him down, punch and kick him. Eventually, he escaped again, where he was chased up escalators and an officer kneels on his upper back for almost six minutes.

Kimberly Freeman and George Burks, the parents of Gershun Freeman, chant “justice for Gershun Freeman” during a press conference with attorney Ben Crump, co-counsel Jake Brown and Brice Timmons, the family of Gershun Freeman, and the parents of Tyre Nichols to address Freeman’s death while in custody at Shelby County Jail outside of the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center in Memphis, Tenn., on March 17, 2023.

Throughout the chase, Freeman could be seen punching at corrections officers.

His cause of death was listed as an exacerbation of a heart disease due to the physical altercation and being subdued by the officers. His manner of death was listed as homicide, although that "is not meant to definitively indicate criminal intent," the autopsy said.

Freeman's autopsy also said he had a history of psychosis. His family has retained civil rights attorney Ben Crump in an ongoing civil case in federal court.

Reporter Katherine Burgess contributed to this report.

Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: TBI investigating death of 70-year-old in Shelby County Jail