Why would the local State Attorney refer a 1993 in custody jail death to a Grand Jury, but apparently will not even investigate the questionable practices surrounding recent jail deaths?
Updated May 28, 2010
“This is a court of law, young man, not a court of justice.”- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
In March 1993 a pregnant Volusia County jail inmate died under suspicious circumstances. The local State Attorney referred the death to a grand jury. Please read the below media article about the 1993 death and investigation.
According to the 1993 media article the death was also independently investigated by the State of Florida (State Prison Inspector). However, since October 1997, the State Prison inspector no longer investigates county jail deaths. The individual counties are trusted to self investigate these deaths. Here is an interesting article on why this self investigation process is problematic.
In the 1993 article, Assistant State Attorney David Smith stated that it was routine for the State Attorney office to investigate jail deaths and that the community deserves to have the facts surrounding Ms. Wilson's death aired. Apparently over the years, things have changed within the State Attorney's office. The State Attorney office appears to have no interest in investigating the questionable practices surrounding the 2006 and 2009 deaths of jail inmates Jacks Nelson and Tracey Veira. Apparently, the community no longer deserves or should expect that questionable jail deaths will be investigated by either the State Prison inspector OR the local State Attorney.
Please review the events surrounding these deaths and decide for yourself whether the community deserves to have these deaths investigated.