Community raises questions for Walker County Sheriff’s Office after inmate death

JASPER, Ala. ( WIAT ) – State troopers are investigating the death of an inmate at the Walker County Jail.

According to ALEA, Siras Theus, 47, died last Friday after a week in jail. He was being held on drug trafficking and distribution charges.

The Walker County Sheriff’s Office said an inmate was brought to the Walker County Jail by Jasper Police on April 12. The sheriff’s office claims a corrections officers completed a “fit for confinement” assessment and determined Theus needed to be evaluated at a hospital before being booked into the jail.

The sheriff’s office said Theus was released by the hospital three hours later and was then kept in booking for medical observation. Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith says around 9:15 p.m. Friday night, corrections officers responded to a code blue but the inmate died despite “lifesaving efforts.”

“The Federal Descent Decree in 1994 mandated on the Walker County Jail required 24/7 medical service. A requirement that to my knowledge in my lifetime has yet to be fulfilled,” said Smith in a news conference Monday. “Given the current drug crisis this nation and county face, the need for round-the-clock medical attention is more critical now than ever.”

Smith says in the six and a half years he’s been in office, there have been four deaths in the Walker County Jail. Under the previous administration, there were nine deaths in four years. The sheriff says medical coverage in the jail has increased to 16 hours a day, seven days a week but that it’s still not enough.

“Nobody knows that for 6 and a half years, we’ve asked for 24/7 medical that might’ve made changes, maybe it doesn’t, but anything helps,” Smith said. “In 1994, the federal government said that 24/7 was a necessity… I’ve been asking for it since day one when I walked into office.”

Beyond 24/7 medical coverage, Smith is also advocating for health monitors inside some cells. According to Smith, the sheriff’s office has been requesting monitors for booking cells since October 2023. Smith said delays in hearing the request and sending the money have resulted in these monitors still not being put in jail.

Smith said the monitors would be able to track an inmate’s heart rate and respiratory rate and alert medical staff if either drops or an issue arises. Smith says he’s not sure if these monitors could have prevented Theus from dying but says they could have alerted the medical staff sooner.

During Monday’s news conference, Smith said Theus died of natural causes. An exact cause of death is pending an autopsy from the state.

Some people in the community say they’re tired of this happening. It’s been just over a year since the death of inmate Tony Mitchell at the Walker County Jail. Mitchell’s death was ruled a homicide earlier this year and now this has people questioning what’s happening inside.

“Automatically, the alarms and the concern start going off, given what’s happened in the last year with Tony Mitchell,” Ryan Cagle, co-director of the Jubilee House, said. “It’s easy, I think, for us to be immediately skeptical, and I think it’s warranted.”

Cagle said while the Walker County Sheriff’s Office is good at being transparent when something positive happens, more transparency is needed when it comes to the negative side.

“We deserve accountability as a community. They are public servants. Nick Smith is an elected official, he is meant to be someone who serves this community,” Cagle said. “If we can’t trust him to tell us the full truth, because a little bit of the truth or half of the truth is not the truth.”

Cagle said wanting 24/7 medical coverage and health monitors are good ideas in theory but says the community has no way of knowing what’s actually happening inside.

“To go back to the Tony Mitchell thing, because that’s the foundational thing for why we have such skepticism for the Walker County Sheriff’s Department, is because they hadn’t reported, from the sheriff’s department, nurses said he needed medical attention, and they didn’t give it to him,” Cagle said.

Cagle says the community has a lot of questions and concerns. Especially when it comes to the Medication-Assisted Treatment program, which Cagle says is already in place. According to Cagle, this program helps people suffering from substance abuse.

“To what level is it being implemented? What percentage of people who are getting taken into the jail who have substance use disorder are actually getting put into that program? Those are not things we know,” Cagle said. “We would love to know them because we ought to be able to commend them for whatever’s happening.”

CBS 42 reached out to the Walker County Sheriff’s Office about the MAT program but we have not yet heard back.

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