Armor Correctional found criminally guilty for the Milwaukee County Jail death of Terrill Thomas
The company that previously provided medical services at the Milwaukee County Jail has been found guilty in the dehydration death of Terrill Thomas in 2016.
Miami-based Armor Correctional Health Services Inc. was charged in 2018 with abuse of residents of a penal facility, a felony, and seven counts of falsifying health records, all misdemeanors.
The case finally went to trial Sept. 27, and a jury returned the guilty verdicts late Tuesday, after about a day's deliberations.
“It is extremely rare to prosecute a corporation, however, such a prosecution is justified in particularly egregious circumstances," District Attorney John Chisholm stated in a news release Wednesday.
He said a history of civil and regulatory enforcement against Armor for similar conduct, and the "pervasiveness of wrongdoing within the corporation," made the criminal prosecution of Armor itself necessary.
“Armor Correctional betrayed the trust of the people of Milwaukee County by not only neglecting Mr. Thomas and others, but also by attempting to hide the neglect by falsifying the medical records,” he added.
Patrick J. Knight, the Milwaukee lawyer who defended Armor, said: "The verdict as well as a number of pre-trial rulings will certainly be appealed."
The case was tried before Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Kori Ashley.
Chisholm's office's investigation of Thomas’ death revealed that multiple former employees of the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office violated jail policies and procedures, including the water being turned off, not logging the water was turned off, and failing to preserve surveillance video related to these events.
What happened during Terrill Thomas' 2016 arrest
Thomas, 38, had bipolar disorder and his family believed he had been experiencing a psychotic episode when he was arrested in April 2016.
Thomas ran into the Potawatomi casino, yelling and ordering patrons to "get out," fired two rounds from a Glock 9mm handgun and stuffed poker chips into his pockets. When confronted by police, he dropped the gun into a trash can, was arrested and then booked into the jail.
There, he was placed in a segregation unit where guards shut off his water.
Thomas died of dehydration six days later.
Charges, other deaths at County Jail
The former commander of the Milwaukee County Jail and two other jail staffers were criminally charged in the case in 2018, with all three eventually convicted.
This is not the first instance of an in-custody death at the County Jail. Between January 2020 and April 2021, there were four reported deaths. Three of the cases were investigated as suicides, while the cause of the death for the fourth was determined as acute heart failure, according to reports from the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office.
Three guards involved in two of the incidents were fired or resigned. The Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office said no criminal charges will be issued in those cases.
Most recently, 21-year-old Brieon Green died of an apparent suicide in June. His family has demanded answers from the sheriff's office but to date has still not received any answers. The results of the investigation and the results of an independent autopsy requested by Green's family are still pending as of Sept. 12, according to Green's family's lawyer, B'Ivory LaMarr.
A sentencing hearing for the Armor Correctional case is scheduled for Nov. 16. The company faces fines of up to $190,000.
Contact Vanessa Swales at 414-308-5881 or vswales@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Vanessa_Swales.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Armor Correctional found criminally guilty for Terrill Thomas' death
