Activists call for investigation of Ohio jail after newspapers' special report

Erin Glynn and Laura A. Bischoff, Columbus Dispatch
Updated ·1 min read
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The Montgomery County Jail Coalition called for a state investigation into the jail to examine problems highlighted in a year-long newspaper investigation.

Follow-up story: Gov. Mike DeWine: Jail deaths should be investigated by an outside agency, not sheriffs

The investigation into Ohio jail deaths by The Cincinnati Enquirer, Columbus Dispatch and other USA TODAY Network Ohio newspapers found there were 18 deaths in the Montgomery County Jail reported to the state between 2020 and 2023.

Montgomery County Jail employees hold Isaiah Trammell in a restraint chair and examine his injured head. The 19-year-old banged his head on the cell wall so hard that he knocked himself out. He died days later at a local hospital. His death was ruled a suicide.
Montgomery County Jail employees hold Isaiah Trammell in a restraint chair and examine his injured head. The 19-year-old banged his head on the cell wall so hard that he knocked himself out. He died days later at a local hospital. His death was ruled a suicide.

Those deaths included Isaiah Trammell, a 19-year-old with autism spectrum disorder. Montgomery County Jail officers taunted and threatened Trammell, placed him in a concrete cell by himself and strapped him into a restraint chair two separate times while he begged for his medications and to call his family.

“Isaiah would be alive today had he been treated with dignity and respect in the jail by staff concerned for his health and well-being. Instead of listening to his cries for medication he was laughed at and ignored. We need accountability for what happened to him,” Yvonne Currington, a retired nurse and coalition member said in a news release.

The coalition is a group of organizations and activists working on jail reform.

Laura Bischoff and Erin Glynn are reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Montgomery County Jail Coalition calls for a state investigation