How are jail deaths handled / investigated in other jurisdictions around the Country?
Updated July 24, 2011
"The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold."- Aristotle
VolusiaExposed.Com strongly believes that Volusia County Jail deaths are not being properly investigated. We believe that the failure to investigate starts with how the Volusia County Department of Public Protection (VCDPP) is organized. One person, Director Mike Coffin, supervises both the county jail and the county medical examiner's office. Therefore any deaths that occurs within the jail are not independently investigated. While it is true that the local State Attorney reviews the investigation - because of the whole Lisa Tanner debacle, we believe that politics keep the local State Attorney at bay in regards to investigating or questioning any activites within the local jails.
The apparent reluctance of the local State Attorney to investigate possible corruption within law enforcement agencies can be also seen in media accounts over the on going underage rape allegations within the Volusia County Beach Patrol. Doesn't these articles tend to support that the local State Attorney was slow in charging these law enforcement officers?
We also believe that the Volusia County Sheriff Department has several substantial conflicts of interest in their investigations of these deaths. They include - VCDPP Director Mike Coffin was a one time high ranking member of the VCSO. All investigative law enforcement officers within the VCSO report to Major Robert Jones. Major Jones' spouse, Assistant County Attorney Nancye R. Jones have legally represented both the VCSO and the County Jail's interests. Such appears to be a serious substantial conflict of interest.
We ask you to review the documentation of recent Volusia County Jail deaths and then ask yourself whether records were falisified and facts ignored by Volusia County officials. In the particular, we suggest you review the documents surrounding the Inmate Wooley, Inmate Viera and Inmate Comeau deaths (all young women).
Therefore, in an attempt to better understand whether the in-custody deaths at the Volusia County Jail are being properly investigated, we decide to research how other jurisdictions investigate their jail deaths. Here are a few examples that a simple GOOGLE search provided. VolusiaExposed.Com will attempt to get any agency (ACLU or the DOJ) to investigate our concerns.