ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell announced his office will not bring any charges in connection with the deaths of two inmates at the St. Louis County Justice Center.
In a press release, Bell called the deaths of John Shy and Lamar Catchings tragic but said the evidence fell short of rising to the level of criminal charges.
"These deaths are tragic and the circumstances surrounding them abhorrent. However, neither the facts nor evidence presented to my office rise to the level of bringing a criminal charge based on proof beyond a reasonable doubt that anyone is guilty of criminal neglect."
Lamar Catchings, 20, was found dead in cell 11 on March 1.
The autopsy report released Thursday reveals a corrections officer didn’t follow protocol with him, and his complaints about illness went largely untreated.
The report from the medical examiner's office said the night before Lamar's death, a corrections officer conducting “inmate checks” was supposed to make Lamar stand up in his cell, but instead, he just looked into the cell.
He saw Lamar lying on his bed “in the same position he was later discovered deceased.”
He was being held on a first-degree assault charge that his mom said he was to fighting.
The medical examiner's report showed Shy, a 29-year-old from Oakville, died on Feb. 23 from an intestinal hemorrhage of an unknown cause.
The medical examiner found Shy's small and large intestines both contained a "copious amount of blood," but no lesions or a source of the blood was found.
Dr. Mary Case with the St. Louis County Medical Examiner's Office said in situations like this, it's possible a blood vessel began bleeding before it destroyed itself, meaning you wouldn't be able to find the source.
She could not say what might have precipitated the bleeding, but ruled out drug use as a contributing factor.
A toxicology report for Shy showed he died with small amounts of marijuana and fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, in his system.
In both cases, Bell felt that the evidence did not support that the "acts or omissions of any single person caused the death" Catchings or Shy.
St. Louis County government has fired a corrections officer, removed one contract nurse from service and reprimanded another nurse in connection with the inmate deaths. They also requested an audit of the Justice Center by the accrediting agency, identified companies to carry out a potential independent assessment of the facility and asked the Clayton Police Department to determine if there is a "pattern of deficiencies" at the facility.
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They also formalized an organization chart for the Department of Justice Services, reorganized top staff members to improve efficiency and made numerous changes in an effort to make sure deaths like these don't happen again. Click here or see below for a full list of changes at the Justice Center.
St. Louis County Executive Sam Page released the following statement:
“We must do everything we can to make sure that nobody dies in the County’s custody. I have expressed my condolences to the families of Lamar Catchings, John Shy and Larry “Jay” Reavis.
I cannot imagine the pain of losing a loved one in that way, and the County must do whatever is possible to prevent this from happening in the future.
After we took office less than a month ago, we began a top-to-bottom review of how incarcerated people are treated, how their health is protected while they are in the County’s custody, and how County departments can work more collaboratively. We have instituted several policy changes, and have trained our employees on those revised policies. We also have sought, and will continue to seek, independent, professional input on best practices for corrections and correctional medicine. My fervent hope is that, with these changes, future tragedies can be prevented.”