There have been at least four deaths, including the death of a newborn, among inmates held in in Milwaukee County Jail since April of last year.  The jail, operated by Sheriff David A. Clarke, Jr., houses about 950 inmates daily.  The deaths occurred after allegations of mistreatment and inadequate medical care.The jail in its entirety seems to be plagued with corruption and secrecy.  Clarke had claimed that he was appointed to serve in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in May 2017, but this was never confirmed by The White House.  He then allegedly rescinded his offer the following month due to reports that he had plagiarized portions of his master’s thesis.

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County officials launched an investigation back December 2016 and it was discovered the jail held a very long history of misconduct.  In 2006, Milwaukee County was found in contempt of court for regularly holding prisoners for booking for more than 30 hours, while denying them  “medication, decent food, and even the ability to lie down.”“The sheer number of violations, 16,662, is staggering,” Circuit Court Judge Claire Fiorenza wrote, adding, “Although Milwaukee County contends that it was unaware of the extent of the problem, it is beyond this Court’s comprehension how over 16,000 violations of the consent decree could go undetected.”“The deaths do raise a lot of questions in terms of the training and supervision of people within [Clarke’s] department, and they’ve had a lot of staff turnover,” stated Peter Koneazny, litigation director for the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee. “We have concerns about the management of the jail, about the overall quality of care and treatment of inmates.”

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Pregnant Inmates Forced To Remain Shackled During LaborMilwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke’s Jail Under Fire for Deaths, Civil Rights Abuses