MARTINEZ, Calif. – The death of a 61-year-old inmate in the Martinez Detention Facility is under investigation by both the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office and the District Attorney’s office, said Jimmy Lee, public information officer for the Sheriff’s Office.
The inmate, identified Monday as Dwight Dunn and described as a transient from Concord, was found unresponsive about 2:50 p.m. Saturday during a deputy’s room check at the jail, Lee said.
“The deputy called for facility medical staff to respond immediately and began life saving measures,” Lee said through the Sheriff’s Office’s prepared statement.
Staff called for an ambulance and notified the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, he said. However, the inmate, a man whose name has not been released, later was pronounced dead.
“The death appears to be health-related,” the Sheriff’s Office statement said. “The in-custody fatal incident protocol was invoked,” and both the Sheriff’s and District Attorney’s officers were notified.
Dunn had been in the jail since Sept. 5, after being arrested by the Division of Adult Parole Operations on an accusation of parole violation. His body has been autopsied, but determination of a cause of death is awaiting results of toxicology tests, a revised statement from Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office said.
This is the fourth inmate death reported at the jail.
Prior to this incident, an inmate identified as Phillip Andrew Jacobson, 52, of Antioch, was found dead June 12 in the jail’s shower, and the initial report was that the inmate had hanged himself.
David Hubbard, 46, of San Pablo, was found unresponsive Feb. 7 by staff members who were serving meals. This death was attributed at the time to health problems.
James Darryl Cooper, 45, Vallejo, also appears to have died from medical-related causes. He was found unresponsive in his bed Jan. 24 and could not be revived.
