Prison board questions prison ambulance incident

Aug. 27 — A Lawrence County commissioner highlighted a recent incident at the county jail that required an ambulance to take an inmate to the hospital.

Commissioner Dan Kennedy raised a question at the county jail board’s regular meeting last week about why county jail board members were not notified of the incident.

“What’s the real story?” he asked. He said he had heard several stories “on the street,” such as an overdose, appendicitis or stomach problems, and asked which one was true.

District Attorney Joshua Lamancusa, chairman of the corrections board that oversees prison affairs, has not provided an explanation for what happened, saying the case is under investigation by law enforcement and a final report has not yet been released.

“As three commissioners, why weren’t we notified?” Kennedy asked. “We’re responsible for this prison, and yet I have to hear it on the street. I wasn’t happy about it at all, I can tell you that.”

According to reports, the director, Michael Mahlmeister, was on sick leave when the incident occurred and his deputies were responsible.

Commissioner Dan Vogler said notifications of medical incidents should be sent to all seven members of the prison board.

The board is comprised of the three commissioners, the district attorney, Sheriff Perry Quahliero, Presiding Judge Dominick Motto and Comptroller David Prestopine.

Lamancusa said he would notify members if criminal activity or a riot occurred in the jail, “but not some kind of general notification of a medical problem. As a prosecutor, I don’t want to be called if someone gets sick and their blood pressure is low.”

Quahliero suggested that board members receive a weekly report of medical calls.

Commissioner Chris Sainato pointed out that if an ambulance goes to jail, the rumors start.

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“We don’t want to give the impression that we don’t know what’s going on,” he said.

“I just don’t want to hear that on a street corner if there’s another overdose in prison,” Kennedy said.

The prison has come under scrutiny since an overdose death and other overdoses were reported in April and other inmates reportedly tested positive for drugs at that time.

Lamancusa told the Board of Corrections at its July 17 meeting that charges in the case were imminent. He added that his detectives were completing their investigation into the incident that left Donald James Walter IV, 29, of Grove City, dead and others overdosing.

Lamancusa told the board that the prison’s body scanners were not at fault and did not malfunction the day the deadly drugs were smuggled into the prison.

He said more details would be available in probable cause affidavits that will be filed with the charges, and that a different security issue would need to be considered by the board in the future, involving how the drugs got into the prison.

Walter was one of several people who overdosed in the prison on the night of April 3-4. It is not yet known how many other inmates tested positive for drugs or how the drugs got into the prison. At least one other victim who was taken to the hospital has recovered.

At the time of his death, Walter was in jail awaiting trial following an October arrest on multiple drug and other charges.

No charges have been filed against him to date. Lamancusa said last week that the case was still under investigation.

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