According to WREG, a 60-year-old inmate named Lawrence Sumlin was discovered unconscious and subsequently declared deceased at the Shelby County jail on Friday morning. The circumstances surrounding the death, which is still unsolved pending an autopsy, are being investigated by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
At the time of the event, Sumlin had just been arrested on burglary charges. At a news conference, Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner indicated that there seems to have been a medical emergency, but the investigation is still ongoing to determine the cause of death. A local Memphis report linked Bonner’s statement, “We’re going to have to wait until the medical examiner gives us the information as to what occurred,” to this.
“Most of them are related to medical reasons,” Sheriff Bonner stated in comments that FOX13 Memphis was able to receive. Although I’m not a doctor, this seems to be one of those things that has to do with health. We must await the results of the medical examination. He also talked about the health screening procedures at intake and mentioned that a medical team was there. Bonner emphasized that regrettable things can and do happen in the jail system in spite of these efforts.
According to Local Memphis, there have been at least 69 in-custody deaths in Shelby County since 2016, and Sumlin’s case is at least the seventh of 2024. To better understand and maybe prevent such incidents in the future, health issues in the community and incidents that occur in a correctional facility should be regularly assessed.
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