Milwaukee County Jail staff cut off inmate Terrill Thomas' access to water for seven straight days before he died of dehydration, and Thomas was too mentally unstable to ask for help as he slowly died, prosecutors said Monday at the beginning of an inquest.
The statements by prosecutors are the first official account validating what inmates have previously told the Journal Sentinel about Thomas' access to water in his cell. In prior interviews, the inmates said they begged jail staff to help Thomas as he grew weak without water. Thomas spent nine days in jail before he died in his cell in April 2016.
Prosecutors said jail staff made several decisions relating to Thomas that run contrary to standard operating procedures at the jail. A six-person jury seated Monday morning will hear testimony and issue a verdict on whether those decisions warrant a filing of criminal charges in the case. Prosecutors are not required to follow the jury's verdict. They have not said who is under consideration for possible criminal charges.
Assistant District Attorney Kurt Benkley said Thomas was initially placed in the jail's special needs unit because he suffered from bipolar disorder and wasn't taking his medication. But within a day, Thomas was transferred to the administrative segregation unit, commonly known as solitary confinement, after he tore up a mattress and used it to flood his cell.
When Thomas arrived in solitary confinement on April 17, 2016, a corrections officer went to a utility panel and turned off the water in Thomas' cell, surveillance video showed.
"This order to shut off Mr. Thomas' water was highly irregular and contrary to standard operating procedure in the jail," Benkley said. The cutoff of water was never marked in a jail log or written on a whiteboard used to note significant events on the solitary confinement wing, Benkley said. Surveillance video also showed nobody approached the utility panel to turn Thomas' water back on, Benkley said.
For the next seven days, Thomas was fed Nutraloaf, a meal substitute given to disruptive inmates. Those meals did not come with water or milk, except on Sundays, Benkley said.
Although it likely doesn't factor into his death, prosecutors also noted Thomas was never once taken out of his solitary confinement cell during his seven days there. Inmates are typically given one hour of recreation time per day.
During his week in custody, Thomas repeatedly banged on his cell door and shouted incoherent statements, the result of his mental illness, prosecutors said.
"It will become apparent he was unable to tell people about his basic needs," Benkley told jurors.