3rd inmate in 2 months dies in DeKalb jail; sheriff says ‘a lot of sick people’ are coming in

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — In the last two months, three inmates have died in the DeKalb County Jail.

Earlier this week, the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office announced Charles Robert Smith, 31, suffered a medical emergency in his cell and died. His death is still under investigation.

Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes is hearing from DeKalb County Sheriff Melody Maddox about the deaths.

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Maddox says she can’t comment on the specifics of the deaths, but told Fernandes via text message that “a lot of sick people are coming into the jails.” She said she’d like to talk about it further once the investigations are complete.

Community advocates say they are trying to make sense of why detainees are dying in jails across metro Atlanta.

“Why are they dying? These are young guys, what’s wrong with them?” advocate Colonel Amos King said.

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The NAACP DeKalb Chapter president shared a statement with Fernandes that said, in part:

“How do you have this many deaths and neither the sheriff nor the county commissioners...help the public understand what is happening?”

King says this time a different type of investigation needs to be done.

“We don’t want to continue to see DeKalb County investigating things. We want outside, somebody from the outside. You know, if you’re investigating yourself, that’s not good and we need to get to the bottom of it,” he said.

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Channel 2 Action News checked with other metro Atlanta jails to see how many in-custody deaths they have had this year.

The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office says three inmates have died in custody. We are still waiting on a response from the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office.

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