New Videos Show ‘Absolutely Egregious Care’ in 2025 Cuyahoga County Jail Death

After Jennifer Wade died within the Cuyahoga County jail final 12 months, a county spokesperson mentioned that she had suffered from preexisting medical circumstances. Jail employees tried to avoid wasting the 41-year-old once they discovered her unresponsive within the early morning, the spokesperson mentioned, however she died after being taken by ambulance to a hospital.

State inspectors discovered no coverage or procedural errors in how the employees responded.

However new physique digital camera movies — which had been by no means offered to the inspectors — present that Wade was left mendacity on the concrete flooring of her jail cell for hours earlier than anybody sounded the alarm. Even then, greater than 20 minutes lapsed earlier than nurses started to manage CPR.

Now, a state oversight company is reopening its evaluation of Wade’s loss of life after studying that county officers didn’t share video proof in what her household is looking “a transparent case of neglect.”

Two specialists in correctional and emergency well being care reviewed the footage for The Marshall Undertaking – Cleveland. They mentioned there may be little probability of surviving cardiac arrest after a delay so long as the corrections officers and nurses waited to begin chest compressions on Wade.

“From a medical perspective, it was completely egregious care that does not require any refined medical information,” mentioned Eric Jaeger, a paramedic, emergency medical providers educator and legal professional in New Hampshire. “You simply should have taken a fundamental CPR class to know: Unresponsive. Not respiration. Start CPR.”

Wade’s cousin Brandon Slaughter mentioned she left behind two youngsters. She labored at a telemarketing company and suffered manic episodes attributable to bipolar dysfunction.

“She was troubled,” he mentioned, “however she was not troubled past restore and assist.”

Wade entered the county jail in September 2024 after an arrest by hospital police on the Cleveland Clinic. A decide ordered a psychological well being analysis, however a state psychiatric hospital refused to confess her attributable to her frail bodily well being, in accordance with a county evaluation of her loss of life.

Throughout her 5 and a half months in jail, Wade’s physique and thoughts deteriorated. An after-incident report submitted by the warden mentioned that Wade refused to look after her private hygiene. She typically pretended to be asleep or unconscious, corrections employees reported.

On Feb. 23, 2025, officers carried out cell checks within the psychological well being unit that housed Wade each half-hour, in accordance with the state’s evaluation. Noticing that she had not modified positions, a corrections officer referred to as a nurse at 4:08 a.m.

Within the newly launched physique digital camera footage, recorded by responding officers, a corrections worker and nurse inside Wade’s cramped cell mentioned that her physique was chilly to the contact. At one level within the video, an officer informed Wade to “cease taking part in with us.”

Marc Stern, a correctional well being care knowledgeable and former head medical officer for Washington’s state jail system, mentioned that “important indicators do not lie” and that anybody with probably the most fundamental coaching might verify Wade’s neck for a pulse.

With not less than 9 officers and nurses gathered, they pulled Wade out of her cell at 4:22 a.m. As employees wheeled Wade on a gurney to a storage entrance, a commanding officer turned to guards on responsibility, asking why they hadn’t raised an alarm sooner. One guard mentioned that Wade had been on the ground of her cell because the day earlier than.

“How will you justify any person laying on that flooring, wanting like that?” the supervisor requested within the video. “She might have been tousled all day.”

Whereas ready for an ambulance, nurses started to carry out CPR — greater than 20 minutes after employees had reported discovering Wade unresponsive.

The Cuyahoga County health worker dominated that she died of congestive coronary heart failure attributable to problems from a previous being pregnant, in addition to different underlying well being circumstances. The unbiased medical specialists who spoke to The Marshall Undertaking – Cleveland questioned how lengthy Wade might have been useless earlier than officers referred to as for a nurse.

County and well being officers wouldn’t say whether or not anybody was disciplined in relation to Wade’s loss of life. In addition they didn’t reply whether or not any jail employees have acquired further coaching that had been repeatedly really useful by state and county officers in beforehand botched medical emergencies. The county and MetroHealth, which staffs nurses within the jail, declined to touch upon Wade’s case.

Native jail directors are required by regulation to report vital incidents to the Ohio Bureau of Grownup Detention. The company reported systemic errors — poor medical care, screenings, cell checks and emergency responses — in not less than 10 of the final 20 Cuyahoga County jail deaths, in accordance with a Marshall Undertaking – Cleveland investigation. In Wade’s case, the bureau’s report discovered “no compliance points relating to medical/psychological well being requirements per Ms. Wade’s prescribed therapy.”

Together with medical and jail paperwork, the inspectors issued their conclusions primarily based on surveillance footage from mounted cameras. That footage “skips badly,” the inspectors famous, and doesn’t embrace a timestamp just like the physique digital camera movies.

Equally, a 2025 state inspection discovered a number of failures within the loss of life of Michael Papp on the jail. Directors additionally failed to supply physique digital camera movies to the state investigators reviewing that case. The physique digital camera movies, obtained by The Marshall Undertaking – Cleveland, present a nurse strolling away in frustration from Papp’s chilly, inflexible physique as she berates a corrections officer for ready too lengthy to name for assist.

Cuyahoga County Councilman and Public Security Committee Chairman Mike Gallagher questioned why the county didn’t give the investigators from the Bureau of Grownup Detention the footage from Wade’s loss of life.

“Anytime you have got an out of doors company doing a evaluation, it can be crucial that the company has the whole image to allow them to decide,” he mentioned. “I do not see any purpose to not present the video.”

Inspectors didn’t interview the shift officers overseeing Wade or the nurse who initially responded to the emergency. They solely had the surveillance video to evaluation, which information no sound, so they may not hear discussions captured by physique cameras about how chilly Wade’s physique felt.

Jaeger, the opposite medical knowledgeable who spoke with The Marshall Undertaking – Cleveland, mentioned physique temperature drops about one diploma per hour after the center stops.

“She was most likely lengthy useless,” he mentioned, noting {that a} corrections officer acknowledged that Wade had been mendacity on the ground since her shift started the night time earlier than. “But when she wasn’t [dead], they waited so lengthy that the efforts most likely would have been fruitless, and clearly are a violation of probably the most fundamental normal of care.”

Slaughter, Wade’s cousin, mentioned anger welled up inside him as he watched and listened to the newly launched physique digital camera movies. He informed The Marshall Undertaking – Cleveland that it felt just like the footage was “swept beneath the rug.”

“They are not holding one another accountable, or anybody accountable,” he mentioned.