Ohio jail deaths: Twice inmates overpower guards at hospitals, took guns, died by suicide

Shortly before 10 a.m. on June 1, 2022 inside a Dayton hospital, Montgomery County Jail inmate Brian Booth overpowered a 78-year-old contract security guard, who used a cane.

Booth, 30, fought with Darrell Holderman, took his gun, shot him in the neck, and then ran through the hospital hallways, pointing the Glock handgun at employees and patients. Outside in the hospital parking lot, Booth sat down and turned the gun on himself.

It was a shocking event.

Montgomery County officials told state jail inspectors that it would change some procedures for dealing with people going through detoxification.

Less than two years later, a strikingly similar case happened.

In January 2024, Montgomery County deputies escorted Dejuan Johnson, 25, to another Dayton hospital for treatment.

Johnson wrestled a gun away from the Montgomery County Sheriff's deputy assigned to guard him. A doctor and nurses tried to intervene but when the gun discharged, they ran out of the room at Kettering Health Dayton.

With the gun in hand, Johnson ran through the hospital, out the door and to a nearby neighborhood where he broke into an unoccupied house. Dayton police officers surrounded the house. Once inside, officers found Johnson had shot himself in the head with the deputy's gun.

A year-long investigation by The Cincinnati Enquirer, Columbus Dispatch and USA TODAY Network Ohio examined 219 deaths in jail custody that were reported to the state Department of Rehabilitation and Correction between 2020 and 2023. Booth was among those deaths. Johnson's suicide is among 18 in-custody deaths reported to the state in the first five months of this year.

The investigation found jail personnel ignored serious medical conditions and injuries, withheld life-saving medicine and did not adequately monitor prisoners at risk for suicide.

Generally, the sheriff who runs the jail investigates the deaths that happen in-custody. Following the news organization's investigation, Gov. Mike DeWine said independent investigations should be conducted for every death.

Jails must report deaths and other critical incidents to the state prisons department but there is no consequence for failing to do so. Following a death in custody, inspectors check to see if the jail was out of compliance with state standards that would've applied to the case.

Montgomery County Sheriff Rob Streck, through a spokeswoman, declined to detail how the jail may have changed its protocols between or after the Booth and Johnson cases.

State inspectors also found that Montgomery County Jail had no deficiencies in how it handled Isaiah Trammell, a 19-year-old with autism who died after 10 hours inside the jail. Guards could be heard on security footage belittling and tormenting Trammell, who was banging his head, screaming and begging for help.

Streck's office has declined to comment on the Trammell case.

Since publication, Trammell's story has garnered headlines worldwide and a local group has called for an independent investigation.

Laura Bischoff is a 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: Guards overpowered, guns stolen: How one Ohio jail lost control