Connect with us

Mississippi Today

Troubled south Mississippi man becomes another casualty in rising number of jail suicides 

Published

2 years ago

on

Troubled south Mississippi man becomes another casualty in rising number of jail suicides 

by Julie Whitehead, Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, Mississippi Today
November 28, 2022

Almost a year has passed since Harlene Blair of McHenry last saw her 21-year-old son Eli Marrero, alive. Now she wonders if she’ll ever find out why he died in law enforcement custody.

Blair told MCIR she was told her son was found hanging from a light fixture in his solitary confinement cell in the Stone County Correctional Facility on Jan. 29, 2022 — five months before his 22nd birthday.

Blair said her son’s case hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves from the investigators or the media. “I’m kind of afraid the police will mess with me if my name is printed, but I don’t care. I’ve called everybody from the TV stations and the newspapers all the way to the governor,” Blair said. “I’ve called fifty law firms — all of them said they’d have a conflict of interest since they have to work with police.”

Blair said her son was arrested at her home after Thanksgiving in 2021 for not reporting to his probation officer in relation to stealing a car. Blair said the car belonged to Marrero’s cousin, and Marrero’s defense was that he thought he had permission to drive it. Blair said she saw papers Marrero had received after his release, and she saw no mention of needing to report to anyone. She said her questions to the sheriff at his arrest were rebuffed.

“I asked them for the paperwork with the warrant, and they wouldn’t give me anything, and they wouldn’t let me hug him goodbye,” Blair said.

The sheriff would not respond to questions for comment.

Eli Marrero, diagnosed with Schizophrenia when he was 16, was 21 when he was discovered hanging in his Stone County jail cell on Jan. 28, 2022.

Marrero suffered from schizophrenia, diagnosed at age 16. Blair said he received treatment at Gulf Coast Mental Health Center in Wiggins. She said she did not think Marrero was medicated while he was in jail, even though she said she told the sheriff’s department he needed his medication when they came to arrest him. “They sent two cop cars to come get him,” she said.

Attorney David Sullivan of Gulfport, who was Marrero’s public defender on the car theft charge, told MCIR that he didn’t understand why Marrero would have been arrested in the first place for not reporting to his probation officer. He said that in cases like that, police usually arrest a person as they encounter them in the community — not going out of their way to find him at home.

And even if he were sentenced on the charge, Marrero might have been credited with time served or even have gotten a second chance from the judge, Sullivan said. “He wasn’t looking at years in prison. He did that time because he couldn’t afford to bond out. He would have been parole-eligible anyway.”

He said Marrero was not entitled to a public defender for a probation violation charge so he was no longer involved in the young man’s defense.

Jail suicides on the rise

Jail suicides are becoming more common — 340 persons in state and federal prisons and 355 in local jails died by suicide in 2019, based on the most recent mortality data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The number of suicides in local jails increased 5% from 2018 to 2019, while suicides in state and federal prisons remained stable.

Suicides accounted for almost a third of deaths in local jails and 8% of deaths in state and federal prisons in 2019, according to the BJS. Nearly a fifth of the nation’s 1,161 state and federal prisons and a tenth of the 2,845 local jails had at least one suicide in 2019.

Over the 20-year period from 2000 to 2019, more than 6,200 local jail inmates died by suicide while in custody. Suicide deaths among jail inmates increased 13% over the period. Those who died by suicide were most often male, non-Hispanic white, incarcerated for a violent crime and died by self-strangulation.

More than three-quarters of jail inmates who died by suicide from 2000 to 2019 had not been convicted and were awaiting adjudication of their charge, according to the report.

The Mississippi Department of Mental Health is trying to get a handle on just how many prisoners in jails are battling mental illness, said Dr. Tom Recore, the head of forensic services for Mississippi since April 2022.

The department recently completed a year-long longitudinal study of just how long it takes for a mentally ill inmate to be ordered to have a competency hearing. The figures were stunning: inmates spent an average of 555 days in jail from the alleged offense until a judge ordered they be evaluated to see if they were competent to stand trial.

“The averages are high because of a handful of counties,” Recore explained.

Once the order was sent, it typically took another 191 days to process an inmate through a competency hearing, an evaluation period, and an order of noncompetency being entered. That amounted to 748 days — a little more than two years — according to the study.

Some of those inmates had been indicted for their crimes, and some had not — depending on when their cases were presented to a grand jury, which is the responsibility of the county, Recore noted.

One of the reasons that the first waiting period is so long is the inmates’ attorneys typically have to request a competency hearing, and Mississippi does not have a full-time public defender system in place. In Stone County, most public defenders are private attorneys from the Coast who do the work for $500 per inmate, Sullivan noted.

The Office of the State Public Defender was established in 2011 to unite various state agencies providing public defense under one umbrella and to develop proposals for a statewide public defender system. It issued its final report in 2018 to the Legislature, outlining a proposal for a statewide public defender system. The office’s annual report in 2021 shows that implementation of the proposals is not complete, with the office proposing three pilot programs, one in each Supreme Court district, to be presented to the Legislature next year.

House Bill 360 to provide funding for these pilot programs passed the House in 2022 and died in the Senate Judiciary B Committee on March 1, 2022, according to the bill status website. The OPD's 2022 annual report noted that efforts will be made to pass this pilot program in 2023.

Eli Marrero racked up multiple incident reports in the Stone County Correctional Facility c prior to his suicide on Jan. 28, 2022.

A troubled man and problematic inmate

The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, which has oversight over inmate deaths in the state, is investigating Marrero’s death. Because the investigation is ongoing, records of the case are unavailable under the state’s Open Records Act, according to Robert E. Wentworth, staff officer in Mississippi Department of Public Safety’s legal division.

But arrest records and incident reports obtained by MCIR paint a picture of a troubled man who became a problematic inmate.

According to his Dec. 2, 2021, interview, Marrero told booking officer Vickie Clark that he suffered from mental illness but did not receive treatment for it. He also said he had received treatment for substance abuse in the past, although it was not clear from those records where he received such treatment. His brief mental status exam at that time was deemed within normal limits.

During previous jail stays, Marrero had other incident reports — once for attempting to exit the jail through the fire escape door on the bay back to his lockdown cell after a court date in April 2021. Cpl. Aaron Lumpkin noted Marrero said God told him to go outside instead of to his cell. Attempts to get him into his cell resulted in an altercation between Lumpkin and Marrero, with two correctional officers assisting Lumpkin in getting Marrero into cell 135A, noted on Marrero’s transfer papers as a “suicide cell.”

Less than a month later, Marrero was the center of a multiple-inmate verbal altercation where other offenders accused Marrero of using racial slurs and of walking in on them during showers. As a result, Marrero was placed on lockdown without contact with any other prisoners, per Lumpkin’s report on the incident, or his mother.

On July 29, 2021, Marrero flooded his cell and other areas of the jail with “toilet water,” according to the report. He would not leave his cell when told to do so, resulting in Capt. Eddie Rogers, chief of security at Stone County Correctional Facility, spraying him with a one-second burst of pepper spray and a brief scuffle between them to get Marrero out of his cell, with six other officers in attendance, according to Lumpkin’s incident report.

Marrero lashed out at a particular inmate during his jail stays, identified in the records as Octavian Stanley — first on July 20, 2021, with the two shouting threats at each other, then, according to an affidavit filed on Dec. 29, 2021, alleging Marrero had jumped Stanley from behind and hit him in the head. An incident report from that day corroborates that Marrero had attacked Stanley while the inmate was cuffed. The scuffle resulted in a decision that the two should not be out of their cells at the same time for any reason.

Three days before his death on Jan. 25, 2022, Marrero was also written up for attempting to assault an officer. The officer noted that Marrero swung his handcuffed fists at the officer’s face. The officer blocked his swing and shoved him into his cell. According to the incident report, two other correctional officers witnessed the assault.

Blair confirmed Marrero, as a teenager, stayed in trouble at school because of problems with attention deficit disorder and got his GED after dropping out.

An April 24, 2017, article in the Biloxi Sun Herald quotes Capt. Ray Boggs as saying Marrero escaped from youth court after a hearing, possibly running off with his girlfriend who had a car waiting outside the building, injuring Chief Deputy Phyllis Olds.

‘This is not the place they need to be’

Marrero’s autopsy dated Feb. 1, 2022, which MCIR obtained from Blair, was signed by State Medical Examiner Dr. Staci Turner. It found ligature markings on Marrero’s neck, partially encircling it, which the examiner found consistent with the history given that Marrero had been found hanging in his cell. No spinal cord injury was present, nor was there any substances found in his body per the toxicology report. All other organs were normal with no evidence of natural disease.

Stone County Coroner Wayne Flurry said he was called to Memorial Hospital in Stone County, where Marrero had been taken in an effort to revive him. Flurry said he was told Marrero had been found hanging from a light fixture in his cell. Since Marrero had died in jail, the case was referred to MBI to investigate, and Marrero’s body was sent to the state Crime Lab for autopsy. “I referred it to the State Medical Examiner because all I had to go on was what I had been told,” Flurry said. “I did not go to the jail.”

Marrero’s case is not the first time Stone County Sheriff’s Department has been investigated for how it handled the mentally ill. In June 2019, Pablo de la Cruz, then a sheriff’s K-9 deputy, resigned amid an investigation into the alleged mistreatment of a mentally ill man picked up on a court order related to his health.

Blair said not knowing what exactly happened to her son was the most difficult part about his death. “Nobody would tell me anything,” she said. “Every time I asked why he was in solitary confinement, they said he’s not fit for general population.”

Rogers said it was known throughout the jail and the community that Marrero had problems. “One minute he was fine, the next minute you were like, what are you even saying? It would sound like he was speaking in Arabic,” Rogers said.

“It’s a sad situation,” Rogers said. “This is not the place they need to be. But I don't know if Mississippi is ever going to do anything about it.”

Recore said the state is attempting to build a new system of services that quickly identifies mentally ill individuals in the prison system, gets them evaluated for competency, and gets them the necessary treatment they need to be restored to competency if possible — or kept in the least restrictive environment available if that’s not possible.

Blair said she feels like some simple measures could have kept her son alive. “I would like them to take the bedsheets out of solitary confinement and to keep a better eye on the people in there,” she said, noting her son should have been checked on every 30 minutes or so if he was at risk for suicide.

Wendy Bailey, executive director at the Department of Mental Health, said the state is attempting to provide a continuum of care with two pilot programs based out of Region 8 Mental Health in Brandon and Region 12 Pine Belt Mental Health to connect inmates with medical treatment earlier in their confinement.

She said anyone who is concerned with the mental health of inmates should familiarize themselves with these new programs. “If you have everybody at the table, all the advocates for care, we can create a system that Mississippi can be proud of,” Bailey said.

This story was produced by the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, a nonprofit news organization that is exposing wrongdoing, educating and empowering Mississippians, and raising up the next generation of investigative reporters. Sign up for our newsletter.

Email Julie Whitehead at julie.whitehead.mcir@gmail.com.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.biloxinewsevents.com/?p=197664

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Mississippi Stories Videos

Mississippi Stories: Michael May of Lazy Acres

Published

15 hours ago

on

January 21, 2025

By

mississippitoday.org – rlake – 2025-01-21 14:51:00

In this episode of Mississippi Stories, Mississippi Today Editor-at-Large Marshall Ramsey takes a trip to Lazy Acres. In 1980, Lazy Acres Christmas tree farm was founded in Chunky, Mississippi by Raburn and Shirley May. Twenty-one years later, Michael and Cathy May purchased Lazy Acres. Today, the farm has grown into a multi seasonal business offering a Bunny Patch at Easter, Pumpkin Patch in the fall, Christmas trees and an spectacular Christmas light show.  It’s also a masterclass in family business entrepreneurship and agricultural tourism.

For more videos, subscribe to Mississippi Today’s YouTube channel.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Continue Reading

Mississippi Today

On this day in 1921

Published

23 hours ago

on

January 21, 2025

By

mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2025-01-21 07:00:00

Jan. 21, 1921

George Washington Carver Credit: Wikipedia

George Washington Carver became one of the first Black experts to testify before Congress. 

His unlikely road to Washington began after his birth in Missouri, just before the Civil War ended. When he was a week old, he and his mother and his sister were kidnapped by night raiders. The slaveholder hired a man to track them down, but the only one the man could locate was George, and the slaveholder exchanged a race horse for George’s safe return. George and his brother were raised by the slaveholder and his wife. 

The couple taught them to read and write. George wound up attending a school for Black children 10 miles away and later tried to attend Highland University in Kansas, only to get turned away because of the color of his skin. Then he attended Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, before becoming the first Black student at what is now Iowa State University, where he received a Master’s of Science degree and became the first Black faculty member. 

Booker T. Washington then invited Carver to head the Tuskegee Institute’s Agriculture Department, where he found new uses for peanuts, sweet potatoes, soybeans and other crops. 

In the past, segregation would have barred Carver’s testimony before Congress, but white peanut farmers, desperate to convince lawmakers about the need for a tariff on peanuts because of cheap Chinese imports, believed Carver could captivate them — and captivate he did, detailing how the nut could be transformed into candy, milk, livestock feed, even ink. 

“I have just begun with the peanut,” he told lawmakers. 

Impressed, they passed the Fordney-McCumber Tariff of 1922. 

In addition to this work, Carver promoted racial harmony. From 1923 to 1933, he traveled to white Southern colleges for the Commission on Interracial Cooperation. Time magazine referred to him as a “Black Leonardo,” and he died in 1943. 

That same year, the George Washington Carver Monument complex, the first national park honoring a Black American, was founded in Joplin, Missouri.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Continue Reading

Mississippi Today

Legislative recap: 2025 tax cut battle has been joined

Published

2 days ago

on

January 20, 2025

By

mississippitoday.org – Geoff Pender – 2025-01-20 12:00:00

After relatively brief debate and questioning given its magnitude, the state House passed the first meaningful legislation of the new session: House Bill 1, a measure that would eliminate the state income tax, trim taxes on non-prepared food and raise sales and gasoline taxes.

It would mark a sea change in state tax structure, a shift from income to consumption taxation.

“We are at a place where we can finally tell the hard-working people of Mississippi we can eliminate the tax on work,” House Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar, HB1’s author, told his colleagues.

The measure passed the House 88-24. It gained some Democratic support in the supermajority Republican House, with nine Democrats voting in favor, 24 against and 12 voting present.

The proposal garnered some bipartisan support because it includes at least a couple of items Democratic lawmakers have championed in the past: A gasoline tax to help fix crumbling roadways, and a reduction in the “grocery” tax, or the sales tax levied on unprepared food, of which Mississippi has the highest overall rate in the nation.

It still met with some Democratic opposition in part because it is a sea change toward more “regressive” taxation. Proponents say this is just, people should pay more for state services they use, such as roadways, and for things they buy as opposed to taxing income. Opponents say this places a proportionately higher tax burden on people of modest means.

“I would say the people hurt the most with this would be working people who have to put gas in their car to go to work or those who have to purchase materials to do a job,” House Democratic Leader Robert Johnson said.

Beyond that concern, opponents or skeptics worry that the foundation of the proposed tax overhaul would be built on shifting sands — a state economy that has been so rosy primarily from the federal government dumping billions of dollars in pandemic spending into Mississippi. With the federal spigot being cut off, some worry, the state economy could slump, and the massive tax cuts in this new plan could provide a state budget crisis, of which Mississippi has much experience, and underfunding of crucial services such as schools, roads, health care and law enforcement.

The largest hurdle Republican House leaders face in seeing their tax plan through to law is not in garnering bipartisan support. It’s internecine disagreement with the Senate Republican leadership, which still appears to harbor abovementioned concerns about overhauling tax structure in uncertain economic times and betting on growth to cover massive tax cuts.

Senate leaders have said they want to enact more tax cuts, but their plan has not yet been released. Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has provided some details of what he wants to see, but it would appear he wants a more cautious approach on cuts. He has not publicly opined on the tax increases in the House plan.

Quote of the Week

“Have you ever worn a belt and suspenders, lady? It’s a belt and suspenders approach.” — Rep. Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, to Rep. Omeria Scott, D-Laurel, during floor debate on Lamar’s bill to eliminate the state income tax and raise other taxes.

“No. I have not worn a belt and suspenders. I don’t know anyone who has worn a belt and suspenders,” Scott replied.

In Brief

House will renew push to legalize mobile sports betting

House Gaming Committee Chairman Casey Eure, R-Saucier, told Mississippi Today he plans on taking another crack at legalizing mobile sports betting in the state. In 2024, the House and Senate passed versions of legislation to permit online sports betting, but never agreed on a final proposal. Some lawmakers raised concerns that gambling platforms would have no incentive to partner with smaller casinos, and most of the money would instead flow to the Mississippi Gulf Coast’s already bustling casinos. Proponents say legalization would undercut the influence of illicit offshore sports betting platforms.

“I’ve been working on this bill for many years and I’m just trying to satisfy any concerns that the Senate may have so we can pass this and start collecting the tax dollars that the state deserves and not allowing everyone to place bets with these offshore accounts,” Eure said. “I feel like the state is losing between $40-$80 million a year in tax revenue.”

Sports wagering has been permitted in the state for years, but online betting has remained illegal amid fears the move could harm the bottom line of the state’s brick-and-mortar casinos. Mobile sports betting is legal in 30 states and Washington, D.C.,  according to the American Gaming Association. — Michael Goldberg

Hosemann makes Senate committee chair changes

Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann last week named new chairmen of committees, after former state Sen. Jenifer Branning was sworn into office as a new justice on the Mississippi Supreme Court. 

Sen. Chuck Younger, a Republican from Columbus, previously led the Senate Agriculture Committee and will replace Branning as chairman of the Transportation Committee. Sen. Neil Whaley, a Republican from Potts Camp, previously led the Senate Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Committee, but will now lead the Senate Agriculture Committee. 

Here are the other changes to Senate committees: 

Sen. Ben Suber, a Republican from Bruce, will be the new chairman of the Senate Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Committee 

Sen. Bart Williams, a Republican from Starkville, is the new chairman of the Senate Public Property Committee

Sen. Scott DeLano, a Republican from Gulfport, will lead the Senate Technology Committee 

Sen. Robin Robinson, a Republican from Laurel, will chair the Senate Labor Committee 

Sen. Angela Turner Ford, a Democrat from West Point, will lead the Senate Drug Policy Committee.  — Taylor Vance

What’s in a name? Democratic Rep. Scott hopes GOP majority will pass ‘Donald J. Trump Act’ bills

Perhaps tired of seeing many measures she authors ignored or shot down in flames by the Republican supermajority in the Mississippi Legislature, Democratic Rep. Omeria Scott of Laurel is trying a new strategy: naming bills after Republican President-elect Trump.

For this session, Scott has authored: House Bill 61, the “Donald J. Trump Voting Rights Restoration Act;” House Bill 62, the “Donald J. Trump Ban-The-Box Act … to prohibit public employers from using criminal history as a bar to employment;” and House Bill 249, the “Donald J. Trump Early Voting Act.” — Geoff Pender

More bills filed to criminalize abortion

Since the 2022 Dobbs Supreme Court decision overturned the constitutional right to an abortion, Mississippi lawmakers have proposed bills to criminalize workarounds to the state’s strict abortion ban – including criminalizing the abortion pill and out-of-state abortions. The 2025 legislative session is no exception. 

Rep. William Tracy Arnold, R-Booneville, filed House Bill 616 that would make it a felony to manufacture or make accessible medication abortion. Anyone convicted of the crime would be subject to a fine between $1,000 and $5,000, as well as imprisonment between two and five years. Last year, about 250 Mississippians each month requested medication abortion from Aid Access, the only online telemedicine service supplying medication abortion via mail in the U.S. 

Helping a minor receive an abortion would also be criminalized under House Bill 148 filed by Rep. Mark Tullos, R-Raleigh. That would include transporting a minor out of state to undergo an abortion, as well as helping a minor procure a medication abortion – both of which would be punishable by not less than 20 years in prison or a fine of not less than $50,000. — Sophia Paffenroth

By the Numbers

$1.1 billion

The estimated net annual cost of the House plan to eliminate the state income tax and raise sales taxes, once fully phased in. Proponents say economic growth would allow the state budget, currently about $7 billion a year, to absorb the cut. Eliminating the income tax would cost the state $2.2 billion in revenue, but the House plan would raise about $1.1 billion in other taxes in offset.

0

The amount of income tax Mississippians would pay after a 10-year phased in elimination of the state income tax. With previous cuts being phased in, state income taxes next year will already be reduced to 4%, among the lowest rates in the nation.

8.5 %

The new Mississippi sales tax, up from current 7%, under the House tax plan assuming most local governments would not opt out of adding a new 1.5% local sales tax.

13 cents more a gallon

The cost of the House’s proposed new 5% gasoline tax, based on last week’s average cost of gasoline in Mississippi of $2.62. The new 5% tax would be on top of the flat 18.4 cents a gallon current state excise on gasoline.

4%

The tax on unprepared food once a reduction of the current 7% would be phased in over a decade under the House plan. The state would over time reduce its sales tax on such groceries to 2.5%, but local governments would add a 1.5% sales tax to such items unless they opt out.

Full Legislative Coverage

Lawmakers must pass new legislation to improve access to prenatal care

Lawmakers will file another bill this session to help low-income pregnant women get into the doctor earlier – after the federal government rejected the program set up under last year’s law, because of discrepancies between what was written into state law and federal regulations for presumptive Medicaid eligibility. Read the story.

Proposal: eliminate income tax, add 5% tax on gas, allow cities, counties to levy local sales tax

House leaders last week unveiled a sweeping tax cut proposal that would eventually abolish the state income tax, slash taxes on groceries, increase local sales taxes and shore up funds for state and local road work. Read the story.

A new Mississippi law aims to limit jailing people awaiting mental health treatment. Is it working?

Officials say a new law to decrease the number of people being jailed solely because they need mental health treatment has led to fewer people with serious mental illness detained in jails – but the data is contradictory and incomplete. Lawmakers plan legislation to make more counties report the data. Read the story.

How soon we forget: Mississippi House push for record tax cuts revives fear of repeat budget crises

Eight years ago, from a combination of dozens of tax cuts the Legislature approved and a slumping economy, the state saw a budget crisis that resulted in severely underfunded schools, government layoffs, a near halt to building new roads and highways and problems maintaining the ones we have, too few state troopers on the highways and cuts to most major state services. Read the story.

NAACP legislative redistricting proposal pits two pairs of senators against each other

The Mississippi chapter of the ACLU has submitted a proposal to the courts to redraw the state’s legislative districts that creates two new majority-Black Senate districts and pits two pairs of incumbent senators against one another. Read the story.

Legislation to send more public money to private schools appears stalled as lawmakers consider other changes

Some top lawmakers in Mississippi’s Republican-controlled Legislature are prepared to make it easier for students to transfer between public schools but remain skeptical of sending more public money to private schools. Read the story.

House passes $1.1 billion income tax elimination-gas and sales tax increase plan in bipartisan vote

A bill that phases out the state income tax, cuts the state grocery tax and raises sales taxes and gasoline taxes passed the House of Representatives with a bipartisan vote on Thursday. Read the story.

Tate Reeves and other top Mississippi Republicans owe thanks to President Joe Biden

The tremendous cash surpluses that some state Republicans cite when defending their plan to eliminate the state’s income tax would not exist if not for the billions of dollars in federal funds that have been pumped into the state during Biden’s presidential tenure. Read the story.

Podcast: Mississippi transportation director discusses proposed new gasoline tax

Mississippi Department of Transportation Director Brad White tells Mississippi Today’s Geoff Pender and Taylor Vance he’s staying “in his lane” and out of the politics of a House tax overhaul that would eliminate the income tax and raise sales and gasoline taxes, but that he’s pleased lawmakers are trying to address the long running need for a steady new stream of money to help cover highway maintenance needs. Listen to the podcast.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Continue Reading

Trending