MILWAUKEE, Wis. –
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported this morning that a transgender individual in the custody of the Milwaukee County Jail tried to commit suicide despite ignored warning signs and alerts to the Sheriff’s department from concerned family. The family has filed a $50 million claim that alleges the jail failed to provide adequate mental health or suicide prevention services. Two people have died in custody in the Milwaukee County jail in the last two months alone. Sheriff Ball claimed in 2023 that the office was taking measures to prevent deaths in custody; this reporting published today revealed that was untrue.
Rep. Clancy issued the following statement:
“It is abundantly clear, after much harm and many deaths, that no Sheriff in recent memory has the will or capacity to run the Milwaukee County Jail safely. The lack of transparency, the toxic culture and the flat-out lies are not acceptable. The Sheriff’s neglect is killing Milwaukee residents.
The long-sought audit of the jail has the potential to reduce some of the harm that the Sheriff’s office continues to perpetuate, but it is not enough. We must work with county officials to advance legislation which compels the Sheriff to provide elected officials access to jails and which allows counties to administer jails themselves, removing control from unaccountable Sheriff’s offices that continue to act in bad faith.
Mass incarceration is inherently harmful. Even as we work to reduce it, we have the duty to make the conditions of confinement as humane as possible.”
