Former Washington County Detention Center worker pleads in drug-related death of inmate

A former contracted employee for the Washington County Detention Center pleaded guilty Monday to manslaughter in the death of an inmate last year after smuggling drugs into the facility.

Rynaisha Lashay Jenkins, 23, of Hagerstown, pleaded guilty in Washington County Circuit Court to manslaughter in the death of Jesse Allen Deener, 33, and one count of possession with intent to distribute oxycodone, which also is a felony.

Deener died on Nov. 26, 2021, the day after Thanksgiving, according to court records.

Deener was from the Boonsboro area, according to an online obituary and online dockets for his more recent court cases.

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Judge Brett R. Wilson sentenced Jenkins to 15 years in state prison with all but eight of those years suspended. She gets credit for 294 days already served at the detention center. After being released, Jenkins will have three years of supervised probation.

The maximum penalty for the manslaughter and drug charges could have been 30 years and $15,000 in fines, Wilson said.

Defense attorney David Harbin told the court that Jenkins is a drug addict and he plans to file in a year to see if she is eligible for long-term inpatient drug treatment. If she gets into such a program and successfully completes it, she could be released on probation, he said after the hearing.

"It's a tragedy no matter what way you look at it," Harbin said of the case after the hearing.

The case led the detention center to randomly use its full-body scanner on contracted employees to see if they had something on their body they were trying to bring into the facility, Maj. Craig Rowe, the detention center's warden, said in a phone interview after the plea hearing.

The detention center had already been using the full-body scanner on inmates entering the facility or "going out on transports and things," Rowe said. A person stands on the scanner with their hands separated from their body to get what is, "in essence," an X-ray, he said.

Jenkins was contracted with Aramark to work in the detention center's kitchen, court records state. Inmate Deener also worked in the kitchen.

Rowe said inmates can earn "good-time credits" for holding a job in the detention center.

When Aramark goes through its hiring process, the company provides the detention center with information on whom they want to hire and the detention center does criminal background checks, Rowe said. As long as they don't have a criminal history, they get security clearance to work for the contractor.

Rowe confirmed Jenkins had no prior criminal record and said there were no red flags when detention center officials reviewed her criminal history.

"Unfortunately, sometimes people do things that are unexpected," Rowe said. "It's a terrible, terrible thing that happened and I can't really comment on that.

"Immediately when this came to light, ... she was arrested and her clearance taken," Rowe said.

Rowe said it was his understanding that Aramark immediately terminated Jenkins' employment.

"When we learned of this last year, the person involved was immediately terminated and we have fully cooperated with the investigation," Aramark spokesperson Heather G. Dotchel responded via email late Monday afternoon.

Rowe said Aramark has "been very good to work with" when there are any problems, including with employees. The detention center has worked with Aramark for "well over 20 years," he said.

Prosecutor: Inmate didn't have to die

In seeking a 15-year sentence with all but eight years suspended, Assistant State's Attorney Brendan Flynn noted two factors: That Jenkins was a civilian employee working in the jail and that she had an opportunity to save Deener's life and didn't take it.

Flynn, prosecutor for the county's Narcotics Task Force, said it was a "horrific situation" in which Deener died, but he "really didn't have to die."

During the investigation, Jenkins told authorities she gave Deener the drugs, that she'd seen him "trying to sweat out," and admitted she wanted to "Narcan him" but knew he would get sick, Flynn said. Jenkins told Deener to stay in the backroom and had inmates check on him, Flynn said.

Harbin said he took "great umbrage" at the state's suggestion that Jenkins definitely could have saved Deener's life, noting Jenkins had no Narcan on her. Potentially, Jenkins could have contacted medical personnel sooner, he said.

Harbin said when he thinks of cases involving manslaughter when addicts share drugs with one another, it's "effectively Russian roulette." His client could have died from the drug and the person who sold her the drugs could have "been in this spot," he said.

Jenkins told investigators she bought "Percs" or Percocet the previous day on Jonathan Street, but not from her regular dealer, Flynn said. She said Deener took the "real stuff," a Fentanyl cap, Flynn said as he went over what the state's case would have been if the matter had gone to trial.

In court on Monday the victim/witness coordinator for the state's attorney's office, Jill Ritter, read a statement by Deener's mother who lives in Hagerstown.

In the statement, Deener's mother talked about how she would miss her son, who was her best friend, and how her granddaughter will grow up without a father. She said Deener "wanted a high, but he didn't want death." She also said her son wouldn't have taken Fentanyl.

Later in the hearing, Jenkins turned to address Deener's mother in the gallery, saying she didn't intend to hurt Deener and that she has the "mindset of an addict."

Jenkins offered Deener's mother her "deepest apologies."

To the judge, Jenkins said she wanted treatment and to learn to live without drugs or drinking.

To her own family, Jenkins said, "I love you."

Drug smuggling and death at detention center

Detective Andrew Koontz, with the Washington County Sheriff's Office, responded around 4:10 a.m. on Nov. 26, 2021, for a death at the detention center at 500 Western Maryland Parkway near the west side of Hagerstown, according to court records and Assistant State's Attorney Brendan Flynn, prosecutor for the county's Narcotics Task Force.

The consensus of the inmates on Deener's pod at the detention center was that Deener had not been feeling well most of the day, Flynn said. An inmate who got up around 3 a.m. saw Deener not feeling well and hit the emergency contact box for the deputies. Detention center staff and EMS performed life-saving measures and Deener was taken to the hospital, according to Flynn and court records.

Deener was pronounced dead at Meritus Medical Center at 4:01 a.m., Flynn told the court.

A state medical examiner would later determine Deener died of an accidental overdose with multiple types of Fentanyl in his system, Flynn said.

Investigators looking into Deener's death learned of a civilian employee caught trying to smuggle narcotics into the detention center and interviewed Jenkins, Flynn said. She was found to have a folded dollar bill, which contained a blue pill identified as oxycodone, in her groin area, he said.

Jenkins had been working in the jail for about two months, including on Thanksgiving Day, Flynn said. Noting the holiday, Jenkins told inmates she worked with in the kitchen she would "look out for them" and the inmates asked if they could get "what she does," knowing she was using, Flynn said.

Jenkins had drugs in a facility bathroom and told investigators Deener must have gotten into the bag in the bathroom and knew he had when she saw him, Flynn said.

Jenkins' original charges included distribution of heroin and possession of amphetamine, according to court records.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Ex-jail contracted employee pleads in drug-related death of MD inmate