SACRAMENTO-
The Sacramento County Jail has had 2 inmate deaths in just as many weeks.
Now the family of one of those inmates believes more could have been done to prevent the deaths.
59-year-old Kennedy Barron’s family said he was diabetic when he went to that jail to serve a 29-day stint.
Just a few days short of getting released, he had a heart attack.
“Sacramento County killed my father,” said Deon Barron, Barron’s son.
“I can’t say automatically foul play, but I can say a lack there of someone doing their job,” said Barron’s son Erik Clemon. “We waited on the autopsy report and it came back saying he had a heart attack, and my understanding is the only way he would have had a heart attack is if he wasn’t getting the proper medications that he needed.”
According to his sons, Barron had turned himself in for an ammunitions parole violation in November, a charge stemming from an incident which happened 6 years ago.
“You know he didn’t even say, oh well maybe I should go into hiding or they don’t know where I am, he was like I’m going to turn myself in right now,” Deon Barron said.
Two days before Kennedy Barron was to be released, he passed away.
“I have every reason to believe that my dad wasn’t given the proper medicine that he needed,” Deon Barron said.
Jail medical staff could not comment on Barron’s case because it’s an ongoing investigation.
But the county said each sick inmate is provided his or her medication free of charge and those pills are given twice a day.
“We have detailed records to confirm that yes they are actual getting their medication,” said Grant Nugent, Sacramento County Medical Director of Correctional Health Services.
Nugent said medical personal are available on each floor of the jail 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Each cell is also equipped with an emergency call button which staff responds to immediately, according to Nugent.
“The custody people 1st evaluated the situation and make sure that it’s safe for medical personnel,” Nugent said.
However Clemon, who has been incarcerated himself, said in his experience those buttons are often ignored.
“You know they actually denied me medical attention, honest to god, until the next morning,” Clemon told FOX40.
Both Clemon and Deon Barron believe that is what happened to their father.
“He was probably saying I need my medicine, I need this I need that, and they was like well you’re going to get out soon anyway so it don’t matter if we give it to you or not,” Barron said.
“They probably just forgot about my dad and not took it serious you know? I’m going to miss him,” Clemon told FOX40.
According to the county, there have been 5 inmate deaths in Sacramento County Jail in 2014.
