This article was published in partnership with The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system, and News 5 Cleveland. Sign up for The Marshall Project’s Cleveland newsletter and follow them on Instagram, TikTok, Reddit and Facebook.
After pleading for medical care for several days, Glen Williams Jr. collapsed to the floor in the Cuyahoga County Jail.
No one checked for signs of life. A jail officer walked up and then walked away, pausing only to handcuff the fallen man.
On that morning in January 2024, at least nine minutes passed before jail workers started CPR. Williams never responded and later died at MetroHealth Medical Center from a ruptured aorta.
Eight months later, Tanya Anderson, Williams’ aunt, sobbed as she viewed the jail security video of the events that led to the 39-year-old’s death.
The video was obtained by The Marshall Project - Cleveland and WEWS News 5 as part of a yearlong investigation into deaths at the jail.
WATCH THE REPORT:
“Oh, my God,” Anderson said while viewing the video for the first time. “All these people standing around. My nephew falls to the floor, and nobody’s trying to help him or revive him at all.”
The deaths of Williams and Fred Maynard, a double amputee who died five months earlier after choking on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in front of jailers, raise questions regarding training, preventative medical care and life-saving first aid, the investigation found.
A troubled history
Over the years, the Cuyahoga County Jail has been cited by the state for repeated failures and outdated training that a correctional officer union’s attorney says leaves some jail staff unsure of when and how to use life-saving measures.
At least 24 people have died in the jail’s custody over the past six years, according to federal and state records and news reports. Even before that, in 2018, a U.S. Marshals Service investigation found myriad failures in health care, food services, safety, sanitation and security. The county faced lawsuits over poor conditions, civil rights violations and inadequate medical care for years.
Following Williams’ death, the state placed the county on a corrective action plan in April 2024 for ignoring his pleas for medical help for several days.
County Executive Chris Ronayne’s administration did not inform the 11-member Cuyahoga County Council about the state action plan, according to a statement from Joseph Nanni, the council’s chief of staff.
Ronayne took office in 2023 after pledging during his election campaign to boost government transparency and improve conditions in the jail. Since his election, at least seven people have died after suffering medical emergencies or overdoses. Ten people died from 2020 through 2022.
Two medical experts, who reviewed jail records and security video of Williams’ and Maynard’s deaths at the request of the news organizations, said they were alarmed by the jail employees’ response to the medical emergencies.
According to Eric Jaeger, a paramedic, emergency medical services educator and attorney in New Hampshire, Cuyahoga County failed to provide adequate care and “the community should be concerned,” he said.
“You need to cycle back and reevaluate whether the folks who are responding to these emergencies have received appropriate medical training and are prepared to deliver a high-quality basic life support,” said Jaeger, who specializes in reviewing in-custody deaths. “Because, at least in the instances we’ve seen, that did not occur.”
Adam Chaloupka, an attorney for the Ohio Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, the union that represents jail employees, said correctional officers are first-aid certified, but they are not trained on how to respond to an emergency.
“You’re supposed to hit the button to call out to medical,” he said. “As far as we know, that’s what their requirements are and what they’re trained on.”
The jail failed to meet state requirements for CPR training and other standards in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023, state records show. Records from 2020 were not available.
Dr. Brooks Walsh, an emergency medicine physician at Bridgeport Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut, also reviewed the security footage of the deaths.
He said CPR certification is just the first step in ensuring that a jail can save lives and provide adequate care.
“It really depends on the emphasis that a facility puts, not just on the initial certifications, but on continuing training,” Walsh said.
Senior jail workers cannot recall receiving a policy on medical emergency response in “the last few decades,” Chaloupka said.
“In the last eight years, I know I have never seen one,” he added.
County officials declined to provide the news organizations with its emergency response policy after they were provided with detailed findings of the yearlong investigation.
Ronayne and Sheriff Harold Pretel declined requests for interviews but released a statement through Kelly Woodard, the county’s director of communications.
“Cuyahoga County is committed to ensuring the safety, care and fair treatment of every individual in our custody at the Cuyahoga County Corrections Center,” Woodard wrote. “We take this responsibility seriously and continually work to identify and implement improvements to our practices. Since Sheriff Pretel was first appointed in 2023, he has notified certain members of Council of every death in the jail, even if the cause of death was not known at that time.”
Sheriff: ‘That is horrendous’
During his adult life, Williams never stayed long in one area. Anderson, his aunt, said it was common for her nephew to bounce between Ohio and New York and not contact the family for months.
Williams was sent to the Cuyahoga County Jail on Dec. 18, 2023, to serve 27 days for a misdemeanor assault conviction. Williams, who was unhoused, was placed in a psychiatric unit. Anderson said her nephew had a history of mental illness.
Williams’ family grew worried in late 2023 after not hearing from him and spent parts of the Christmas season searching for him.
They learned he was in the jail when the staff called to notify Anderson of his death, she said.
In a subsequent Jan. 25, 2024, email, county officials told Anderson that Williams’ death was under investigation and that “no further information is available at this time.”
Anderson saw her nephew’s final moments when she met with the news outlets in a Toledo park in September and watched the jail videos.
On Jan. 10, 2024, at 7:18 a.m., video shows Williams collapsing to the floor in a common room full of incarcerated people. Jail workers directed the other men in the room into their cells and secured all the doors.
Over nine minutes passed before staff started CPR on Williams in the jail’s medical bay, multiple videos show.
WARNING: This video shows his final moments at the Cuyahoga County Jail. Viewer discretion is advised.
“There should have been an immediate check to see if he still had a pulse,” said Jaeger, the paramedic educator. “If he didn’t have a pulse and wasn’t breathing, then the next correct action would be CPR.”
Williams was pronounced dead at MetroHealth Medical Center at 8:28 a.m.
Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Gilson ruled that Williams died after his main artery broke and the sac around his heart filled with blood, stopping it from beating. High blood pressure and obesity also contributed, according to the autopsy report.
The county emailed the Ohio Bureau of Adult Detention, which oversees jails, about Williams’ death later that day. The response to Williams’ collapse was “immediate,” Associate Warden Philip Christopher wrote.
“Both security and medical personnel promptly arrived on the scene, " Christopher wrote. "[Williams] was swiftly transported via gurney to the medical dispensary where life-saving measures, including CPR and the use of an AED (automated external defibrillator), were administered.”
Jaeger said Christopher’s email does not match the video.
“What we see in the Williams video is real delays,” Jaeger said, “and then when the medically trained staff arrives, we see further delays in administering any kind of life-saving care.”
In an April 2024 letter about Williams’ death, state inspectors said it had been determined that Williams had complained many times about health problems, though the inspectors don’t detail those complaints. Jail staff took no action to evaluate his symptoms, state records show.
State jail inspectors told the county it needed to correct multiple deficiencies in procedures to address shortness of breath and chest pain and how to appropriately document and respond to medical complaints.
“Based upon the information provided by Jail Administration, it appears that jail staff failed to follow written policy and procedure that address the issue of reporting of medical complaints,” the letter stated.
“The incarcerated individual reported numerous times over several days to medical staff that he was having medical issues, and the issues were not addressed in a timely manner or reviewed by qualified medical personnel.”
In the county’s statement, Woodard dismissed the letter’s corrective measures, calling the letter “a standard but valuable tool” for jail operations.
“These reports are standard and used internally by jail management and generally have not been shared with the public or County Council during any County administration,” she wrote.
Walsh, the emergency medicine physician, said an early intervention could have saved Williams’ life.
“What you really want to do is find someone who’s complaining of some symptoms ahead of time and get them to surgery as soon as possible,” he said.
During an interview in August, The Marshall Project - Cleveland asked Pretel, the sheriff, about Williams’ death and the jail’s protocols when a person collapses. He said employees should immediately provide basic aid until medical technicians arrive.
“Immediate is like instant,” Pretel said. “If that officer was just totally dismissive of someone in distress, then that is an issue to address.”
When pressed further on Williams’ death, Pretel replied: “That is horrendous. It’s under investigation. There is a further issue there.”
Pretel declined to be interviewed last month to answer further questions.
‘Things are starting to look up for me’
On Aug. 19, 2023, Fred Maynard, 60, emailed his former wife, Teresa Williams, to say his life was getting back on track and that he had landed a new apartment.
“Things are starting to look up for me,” Maynard wrote. “Only two more nights of sleeping in my car, and I am getting a new place.
“After I get in and get settled, you have to come see me and bring the baby. Tell everyone about it, and I love you guys.”
Later that day, police arrested Maynard on a warrant for failing to appear in court in Medina County on a drug possession charge, records show. The Brunswick man was listed as unhoused in jail records.
Maynard, a former truck driver, had to end his career after both his legs were amputated due to complications from diabetes, Teresa Williams wrote in a statement to the news outlets. He was the father of two sons and grandfather to three granddaughters.
Maynard entered the jail in a wheelchair at 2:14 p.m. on Aug. 19.
At about 6 p.m., he began choking on a sandwich.
Video footage shows a jail worker stopped and offered him a cup of water. Maynard fell unconscious. Another jail worker hurried behind Maynard and tried to perform the Heimlich maneuver.
More minutes passed before CPR was started. EMS arrived at 6:22 p.m. and departed with Maynard at 6:31 p.m., according to jail records.
Maynard arrived unresponsive at MetroHealth Medical Center at 6:43 p.m. and was pronounced dead at 7:14 p.m., autopsy records show.
WARNING: This video shows his final moments at the Cuyahoga County Jail. Viewer discretion is advised.
Medical examiner Gilson ruled Maynard’s death accidental but said “diabetes placed him at increased risk for potential swallowing issues,” according to the autopsy report.
The jail notified the state about Maynard’s death.
Maynard’s family told the news outlets that their questions about his death went unanswered by jail officials.
“It is really terrible that no one from the jail ever contacted us back to tell us what happened,” Teresa Williams wrote. “It seemed like it was just swept under the rug.”
The county is “unaware of any requests for information from the Maynard family regarding the death of their loved one,” Woodard wrote in a statement.
On March 27, state jail inspectors found staff had acted appropriately and closed the case, state records show.
Walsh and Jaeger disagreed with the state’s findings.
After the Heimlich maneuver failed, Walsh said, jailers should have made sure Maynard was breathing. If not, chest compressions should have been immediately started, he added.
“Instead, it looks like no one considered Mr. Maynard’s pulse, and he was left in the wheelchair for some time without other attempts to address the breathing,” Walsh said after viewing the video.
Jaeger called the medical care and delayed CPR intervention “clearly negligent and substandard.”
It’s “very disturbing because choking, unlike other emergencies, isn’t always fatal,” he said.
“There’s a decent chance for that individual to survive if they received good-quality basic life support care,” Jaeger said. “That just did not happen.”
Maynard’s family is still hurting, haunted by the questions over his death.
“No one has ever answered for how this happened,” Teresa Williams wrote. “Fred may have been in jail when he passed, but he was still a human being. Our family deserves answers in order to have closure.”
