DETROIT (WXYZ) — Wayne County Jail officials said they were “disappointed and disturbed” by the findings of an internal investigation looking into the brutal death of one of its inmates in July.
But in a press conference Tuesday, Sheriff Raphael Washington and his top staff repeatedly blamed the death on a single deputy, who has since resigned, rather than jail broader failures.
“If the officer did his job, he could have stopped the assault or possibly even rendered aide after the assault,” Washington told reporters.
RELATED: Wayne County Jail missed multiple red flags before inmate's brutal death
As 7 Action News first reported in July, the deputy was missing from the jail ward where inmates Thomas Carr and Claude Lewis were housed together for hours while the attack took place.
But deputies inside the jail — and experts in jail safety consulted by 7 Action News — say Carr and Lewis should have never been paired together from the start.
Carr was serving sentence for a non-violent DUI. He was paired with Lewis who, court records show, had eight prior convictions including two felonies for aggravated battery — one for burning or exploding property and another for felon in possession of a firearm.
He was facing domestic violence charges and was in the process of having a PPO taken out against him.
Even on Tuesday, the jail seemed unaware of Lewis' criminal record.
“I don’t know where you got the information that he was convicted of eight felonies,” said Chief Robert Dunlap, responding to a question from Channel 7’s Ross Jones.
Dunlap said he was only aware of a previous juvenile conviction in Lewis’s past that was later expunged.
The eight prior convictions are listed Tuesday in Lewis’ charging documents at 36th District Court in Detroit.
Lewis’ family, through his attorney, said they were unaware of any criminal convictions.
A review of Lewis’s history in the Law Enforcement Information Network, or LEIN, also revealed a warning that he “may harm self or others,” was “unable to attend to basic needs or understand the need for treatment” and had been involuntarily committed a year prior.
The warning was made available to jail staff, but it was not acted upon.
Even with empty cells available, jail staff housed him with Carr.
“The jail mental health provider was made aware of some information that prompted them to refer Mr. Lewis to have a mental health assessment,” Dunlap said Tuesday. “But made a determination that Mr. Lewis didn’t need to be housed on the mental health floor.”
Jones asked if pairing the two together was “a sound decision.”
Dunlap referred those questions to the mental health provider.
But on the subject of Lewis's mental health history, Dunlap said “there was a lot of information that was disclosed that was not shared across the board.”
The point of Tuesday’s press conference was to talk about the new county jail, still under construction off I-75. The facility has more than a thousand security cameras and new technology that the sheriff said Tuesday will keep everyone safer.
“Our hearts go out to Mr. Carr’s family,” Dunlap said. “No one should die in jail.”
Contact 7 Investigator Ross Jones at ross.jones@wxyz.com or at (248) 827-9466.