Inmate admitted to hospital from Broward Main Jail detox unit dies

An inmate who was being held in the Broward Sheriff’s Main Jail died at the hospital Monday morning.

Paramedics took the man from the facility’s Detoxification Unit to Broward Health Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead about 8 a.m., Veda Coleman-Wright, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office, said in an email Monday afternoon.

Coleman-Wright did not provide additional information.

Homicide Unit, Crime Scene Unit and Internal Affairs officials are investigating, as per the Sheriff’s Office policy involving inmate deaths, Coleman-Wright said.

Two other inmates died in December, prompting Public Defender Gordon Weekes to call for oversight in letters to Sheriff Gregory Tony. In December, Main Jail inmate Kevin Barnes, 35, beat his cellmate Janard Geffrard, 29, who later died as a result of his injuries, and Alvin Stephen Modeste, 43, hanged himself in his cell at the North Broward Bureau.

The Sheriff’s Office said in a recent statement to the South Florida Sun Sentinel that they were investigating Geffrard’s death and that a detention deputy and detention technician were placed on administrative leave with pay as their investigation continues.