Woody defends jail staff

An inmate who died while in the custody of Richmond City Jail refused to cooperate when jail staff members first asked about any medical issues, Sheriff C.T. Woody said yesterday.

The inmate, Pamela L. Bayne, 36, died six days after that, on June 2.

She collapsed into unconsciousness after a half hour of screaming in an isolation cell. Bayne died within minutes after she arrived at VCU Medical Center.

Family members learned of her death nearly two weeks later, after her boyfriend asked a bail bondsman to post bond for her, only to learn that she had died.

"It is unfortunate that Ms. Bayne died," Woody said in a statement, adding that he felt deputies and other jail staff members did everything they should have done.

An internal investigation by the sheriff's office found no evidence of foul play or that Bayne had tried to commit suicide.

The Medical Examiner's Office's investigation into the cause and manner of Bayne's death is pending until toxicology tests are completed, spokeswoman Rochelle Altholz said. An autopsy was conducted, and the body was released Monday.

Bayne's boyfriend, John Tusso, said she had been on medication for high blood pressure, depression and a lung abscess just before her incarceration.

But, Woody said, "Ms. Bayne refused to cooperate during the medical intake process when she arrived at the Richmond City Jail."

She did not tell jail medical staff that she was prescribed any medications, Woody said.

Woody said that as Bayne was taken to the hospital on June 2, jail officials left a message at the only emergency number Bayne provided when she came to jail six days earlier.

Jail officials also tried that evening, leaving urgent messages for the family, and kept calling until the number was disconnected several days later, Woody said.

Investigators later found the address Bayne gave on her admission paperwork had not been the family's residence for two months.

"The Richmond City Jail made every reasonable effort to contact Pamela Bayne's family," Woody added.

Richmond police spokeswoman Cynthia Price said the department was not notified about the death. The police department is required to investigate only if there is a suspected homicide, but Price noted that the sheriff's office can request Richmond police assistance in any death.

The office did not notify Richmond police early this year when a 60-year-old city jail inmate was found hanging from a bedsheet noose in his cell.

Sheriff's office spokeswoman Tara Dunlop said in that case, as with Bayne's, death was pronounced at the hospital. Any death in jail is reported to the police, she said.

Homer Jones had been in the jail's medical wing, placed in one of the single-inmate cells there for his own protection since his Jan. 19 arrest because of charges pending against him involved a minor over the age of 13.

Officials believe he hanged himself in his cell just hours after his first court appearance on charges of forcible sodomy of a child.

At the time, Dunlop said Jones had answered "no" to all six questions jail staff members ask new arrivals to see whether they are suicide risks.

Richmond police were notified last August when a 27-year-old man in sheriff's office custody died after going into convulsions at the city lockup. Artarrie Brandon was later pronounced dead at VCU Medical Center.

The Richmond Police Department and sheriff's office internal-affairs divisions investigated the incident, in which Brandon was believed to have ingested drugs shortly before being taken into custody.
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