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The Louisville Metro Department of Corrections has seen eight deaths since November. Photo by Carolyn Brown

Another person has died in custody of Louisville Metro Department of Corrections, marking the eight inmate death in the jail since late November. 

According to a press release sent out by LMDC on Monday morning, a Metro Corrections officer responding to a medical emergency found an unresponsive inmate at around 11:30 p.m. on Sunday night. After the officer and medical staff engaged in lifesaving efforts, the person was transported to UofL Hospital. At approximately 1 a.m., the statement said, the hospital informed the jail that the inmate had died.

On Monday afternoon, the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office identified the deceased person as Barry Williams Sr, a 50-year-old Black man.

LMDC said the man was booked into the jail on May 31, 2020 — nearly two years ago — on “several charges including Assault Second Degree-Domestic Violence, Terroristic Threatening, Burglary First Degree [and] Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.”

The statement added that last month, a jury convicted the man of domestic violence assault second degree, burglary first degree “and for being a Persistent Felony Offender, with a sentence of 24 years to serve in state prison.”

The man’s death marks the eight death at Louisville’s jail in 119 days, meaning that the facility has averaged one inmate death every 15 days during that time period. If that rate continues, Louisville is on pace to have 24 inmate deaths between the end of November 2021 and the end of November 2022. By comparison, New York City, which has a population more than 10 times the size of Louisville’s, saw 16 jail deaths in 2021.

More than two weeks have passed since the death of the seventh inmate, but authorities have still not released that person’s name, saying it is being withheld pending family notification. 

At least one of the eight jail deaths is under federal investigation.

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This article appears in March 16, 2022.

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