On Tuesday evening, several dozen activists gathered at Jefferson Square Park for a vigil protesting the death of another person at the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections on Monday, Jan. 9. Ishmael Puckett, 61, was the 13th person to die in the custody of LMDC in the last 14 months. In a statement on Monday, LMDC said he had been experiencing “medical distress” but did not identify a potential cause of death.
As part of the vigil, those gathered meditated, held signs bearing the names of the dead, and silently walked around LMDC, which is across the street from Jefferson Square Park.
In a statement announcing the vigil, organizer and Louisville Showing Up for Racial Justice (LSURJ) member Sonja DeVries said, “As a community, unless we see the humanity of people in LMDC, and address the ongoing issues of holding people pretrial and the lack of quality, adequate healthcare, more people will die. We are all responsible.”
