Missouri prison warden replaced after investigation into inmate’s death | KCUR

June 19, 2024

The warden of the Jefferson City Correctional Center, where four correctional officers were fired earlier this year following an investigation into the death of an inmate in December, has been replaced.

An acting director has taken over Doris Falkenrath’s position, Missouri Department of Corrections spokeswoman Karen Pojmann said in an email to The Independent. Falkenrath is no longer with the department, Pojmann wrote.

“I am unable to comment on the nature or reasons for Director Falkenrath’s dismissal from the department,” she wrote.

Falkenrath has worked for the department since 1999 and was previously director of the Fulton Reception and Diagnostic Center. Her last day of work was Thursday, Pojmann wrote.

Othel Moore was 38 and being held at the Jefferson City Correctional Center when he died on the morning of December 8. Prison activists at the time described his death as an agonizing one in which his cries for help were ignored after he was placed in administrative detention.

The department launched an internal investigation, and the Cole County Sheriff’s Department conducted a parallel investigation. The four correctional officers were fired in March for their conduct at the time of Moore’s death, but the department did not release details about the firings.

Those investigations have been completed, said Andrew M. Stroth of Action Injury Law Group, one of the attorneys representing Moore’s family. He said he has not received all of the reports.

“Under (Falkenrath’s) command, Othel Moore was unjustly killed,” Stroth said. “We also believe that the dismissed officers are responsible for the tragic and unjustified death of Otto Moore.”

According to testimony from Stroth and others, Moore was pepper sprayed, had a hood placed over his head and was handcuffed. He was heard screaming that he couldn’t breathe and inmates reported blood pouring from his mouth and ears as he was led out of the cell.

The family has not received the surveillance video they requested from authorities or a full autopsy report on his death, Stroth said.

“The family is grateful that the prison warden has been fired, that the officers involved have been fired, and we look forward to taking their case to trial,” Stroth said.

Activists tracking deaths in Missouri prisons are increasingly raising the alarm as the number of deaths rises while the prison population declines.

From 2012 to 2014, an average of 31,442 people were incarcerated in state prisons, according to the agency. Deaths averaged 89 per year. During the period from 2020 to 2022, when an average of 23,409 people were incarcerated in state prisons, there were an average of 122 deaths per year.

The numbers continue to rise, said Lori Curry of Missouri Prison Reform. She said Monday her numbers show 135 deaths in custody in 2023, up from 125 in 2024.

A major factor in this increase is deaths due to accidents, including drug overdoses.

So far this year, 66 deaths have been reported in Missouri prisons through May 31, she said. That would mean there will be more than 150 deaths by the end of the year.

“I’m glad there was some accountability in this situation,” Curry said. “You know, there were other employees who were fired who were more directly involved in the situation. However, there are still employees who I believe were involved or should have some accountability.”

It has been extremely difficult to obtain information about individual deaths in custody, even for family members of the deceased. Willa Hynes of St. Louis won a case in April in which the Western District Court of Appeals found that the department had violated the Sunshine Law when she claimed that records related to the 2021 death of her son, Jahi Hynes, were inmate medical records protected from disclosure.

Jahi Hynes was 27 when he hanged himself with a bedsheet in an isolation cell.

“We concluded that there was substantial evidence upon which the court could have found that the DOC acted with the intent to achieve a specific goal by violating the Sunshine Law, namely, to prevent Hynes from filing a potential civil action against the DOC in connection with her son’s death,” wrote Judge Edward Ardini.

Willa Hynes has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the department in Mississippi County, the location of the Southeast Missouri Correctional Center.

Moore, who had been in prison for nearly 19 years at the time of his death, was serving a 30-year sentence for second-degree domestic violence, possession of a controlled substance, first-degree robbery and armed criminal action.

Moore’s family has not yet filed a lawsuit but will do so, Stroth said.

“Three law firms and a whole team of lawyers are representing the Moore family and are committed to seeking justice for this family,” he said.

The courts cannot be the only way to force changes in the department, Curry said. The Department of Corrections needs to take more action to show it is serious about ending unnatural deaths among inmates, she said.

“I don’t see any general responsibility in this situation,” Curry said.

This story was originally published by The Missouri Independent, part of the States Newsroom.