MINOT, N.D. (AP) - The Ward County Commission is hiring a special prosecutor to determine if charges are warranted in the death of a county jail inmate more than a year ago.
Dustin Irwin, 25, of Mandaree, was declared dead at a Bismarck hospital on Oct. 6, 2014, after going into cardiac arrest. He had been arrested Oct. 2 for driving under suspension and had become progressively ill. An investigation by the state Corrections Department determined that county jail officials had failed to give Irwin proper care.
“The supervision and medical treatment provided to inmate Dustin Irwin from October 3, 2014, to October 6, 2014, by the correctional facility staff and administration was grossly inadequate,” the state said in a December 2014 report. “Every level of command within the Ward County Sheriff’s office failed to provide adequate care to inmate Dustin Irwin.”
The County Commission voted Tuesday to forward the results of county and state investigations to Divide County State’s Attorney Seymour Jordan, who will determine if any charges are warranted in the case, the Minot Daily News reported (https://bit.ly/1RzxPoh ).
The state investigation found the jail had been violating state laws and rules. Some violations included not providing medical physicals to inmates as required, not sending nine correctional officers to approved training within their first year of employment and consistently operating above inmate capacity with insufficient staffing.
The jail has been under state oversight since December 2014 as it works to correct the problems. The facility has undergone an audit of all operations, policies, procedures and practices and taken steps to fully train its staff. The county has been housing excess inmates at outside facilities, and a nearly $40 million jail expansion is targeted for completed at the end of 2018.
Sheriff Steve Kukowski said late last year that the on-site monitoring will continue into June, and that the jail eventually will exceed standards and be a model for others.
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Information from: Minot Daily News, https://www.minotdailynews.com
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