California Inmate Dead In Cell For Days; Staff Blamed Smell On Sewer

[Satanica]

http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-san-diego-inmate-death-20180322-story.html

[,,,,]
Staffers blamed the smell on the sewer system. And during that time, the man’s cellmate discouraged people from checking on the already dead inmate, who was under a blanket on his bunk at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility.

And the cellmate, it turns out, was serving time for homicide related to the death of his own father, whose decomposed body was found under a mattress in his home.

The Medical Examiner’s Office, which released the report earlier this month, ruled James Acuna’s cause and manner of death as “undetermined,”
[....]
The investigative narrative and autopsy report — in which information gleaned from medical records is redacted — provides a glimpse into the death of Acuna, who was found in his cell in the late morning of April 24, 2017, his blanket pulled over his head.

The report states that, at one point, the smell from Acuna’s two-man, second-floor cell brought complaints from other inmates and prompted staffers to put in a work order, suspecting there was a sewer problem.

But the report provides little in the way of specifics, including the identity of the cellmate.

It is also unclear how staffers were unaware of Acuna’s death, despite routine daily head counts, including a count during which inmates are required to stand at their cell doors.

Sheriff’s homicide detectives — who handled the investigation — determined that no homicide had occurred.

Sheriff’s Lt. Rich Williams said a number of factors went into that conclusion, including the absence of trauma that could have resulted in death. Investigators also looked at Acuna’s medical and custodial history “as well as the overall totality of the circumstances surrounding the death.”

Williams declined to provide details into what the cellmate told investigators, including why he did not report Acuna’s death to prison staffers, or whether the cellmate suffers any sort of mental illness.
[....]
And as to how the death could have gone unnoticed for at least two days, the spokeswoman, Vicky Waters, said that question remains under scrutiny.

“Our internal and administrative investigations are still on going,” Waters said, “and once they are concluded, we will hold staff accountable if any wrongdoing is found.”

Inmates last saw Acuna on April 21, 2017 — three days before he was found dead — when he was playing soccer. At that time, he had no complaints, according to the autopsy report.

The next day, an inmate stopped by Acuna’s cell, but Acuna’s cellmate shooed him away, telling him not to come in because Acuna — on the bottom bunk under a blanket — had the flu.

The day after that brought complaints of an odor from Acuna’s cell, followed by a work-order request by staffers.
[....]
The cellmate told a mental health professional at the prison later that he’d killed his former cellmate in a different prison to get the cell to himself. The narrative is silent as to whether there is any truth to that claim.

The autopsy stated that Acuna had various ailments but documented no natural disease or traumatic injury. Although he was not showing any symptoms that he was ailing when he was last seen, Acuna could have died of natural causes. The redacted report notes that a homicide could not be completely excluded.

Acuna was a second-striker when he went to prison for the last time in October 2014, to serve a 16-year sentence for assault with a deadly weapon out of Los Angeles County, according to corrections officials.

He’d been to prison twice before: first in 1984, when he picked up a six-year sentence for committing a robbery with a firearm, and then again in 2000, when he received an eight-year sentence for burglary.

 

[Oberle]

taffers blamed the smell on the sewer system. And during that time, the man’s cellmate discouraged people from checking on the already dead inmate, who was under a blanket on his bunk at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facilit

And the cellmate, it turns out, was serving time for homicide related to the death of his own father, whose decomposed body was found under a mattress in his home.

Who the heck discourages people from checking on the dead and stinking person under a blanket in the same cell with you? I'd want it taken out of the cell pronto, unless I had some sort of death fetish involving stashing rotting corpses under various bed-related items. Wonder how the father died?

 

[cubby]

And as to how the death could have gone unnoticed for at least two days

Because NO ONE was doing their jobs.

A sewer and a dead body does not smell the same. Dead body beats sewer hands down.

 

[FrayedKnot]

Totes nast.

 

[Sejanus]

Smelly corpses are his thing it seems.
Bet his sheets are crusty.

Now put some child abuser in with him and let nature takes its course.

 

[Big_Stan]

They checked this guy for rectal trauma yet?

 

[Ripley]

You start to smell after only 2 days? Diseased tissue smells but presumably if he had no wounds, you'd think it'd take longer.

If there was no a/c in the cell, that would accelerate decomposition. Under the right conditions a human corpse can be reduced to a skeleton in 2 weeks.

 

[JackBurton]

So obvious they are desperately trying to play cover up/cover our asses, at this point. Painfully obvious what happened here, although who knows if the cellmate who killed him will receive justice given the ineptitude on display.

Every single person who had ANY responsibility at all for this unit, from the lowliest correctional officer to the warden and anyone else, needs to be fired, if not held criminally liable, for this mans demise.

If people are getting charged/convicted for merely being present when their friend overdoses and dies, I dont see how the tax paid professionals who let this shit occur aren't guilty of things like negligent homicide and abuse of a corpse and shit like that.

 

[FrayedKnot]

They checked this guy for rectal trauma yet?

I’d imagine rectal dilation and trauma are par for the course in prison.

Maybe I watched too much “Oz”.

 

[Jellybean1711]

You start to smell after only 2 days? Diseased tissue smells but presumably if he had no wounds, you'd think it'd take longer.

Leakage of bodily fluids, that is why they thought it was sewage.

 

[JackBurton]

I wouldnt be surprised if the cellmate jammed up the toilet to mask the stench of the rotting corpse he created. There may have been a sewer stench.

 

[ChaosKitty]

roomie murdered him & they are covering it up so they don't get sued on top of their incompetence there is no way you would stay in a cell with a corpse unless you helped create it being that way imo

 

[Ripley]

Leakage of bodily fluids, that is why they thought

Specifically the immediate evacuation of bladder & bowels upon death.