OSBI investigates Tuesday night death at Comanche County Detention Center

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is looking into a Tuesday night death at the Comanche County Detention Center.

The death of the unidentified jail inmate happened around 9 p.m., according to Hunter McKee, OSBI information officer. District Attorney Kyle Cabelka requested the investigation of a “suspicious death.”

The person’s body was taken to the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office for proper identification and to determine the cause and manner of the death, McKee said.

“Right now we’re still investigating what has occurred,” he said.

The OSBI has investigated at least seven other deaths at the detention center from the past 12 months, according to McKee.

“We’ve been requested on several incidents there in the last year,” he said. “Some have been handed to the DA’s office, others are still under investigation.”

At the request of local officials, the OSBI launched inquiries in July into each of the seven inmate deaths at the Comanche County Detention Center since July 2023.

The dates of those deaths are: from 2023, Aug. 23 and 24, Sept. 14, Oct. 23, Nov. 25; and this year on March 6 and 24.

At least two of the deaths have been referenced in State Department of Health inspection reports regarding sight check violations.

According to the Oklahoma State Department of Health’s May 14 inspection report, the facility didn’t provide sight checks for a Nov. 23, 2023, prisoner death for review, and did not provide facility logs denoting counts and sight checks for another incident occurring on Oct. 23, 2023.

Although the Comanche County Detention Center has an approved capacity of 283 inmates, overcrowding has been an issue for the facility. The $11.6 million facility opened Dec. 1, 2003, but has perpetually had overpopulation problems. The district attorney, however, has said he’s not sure that has played into these incidents.

Cabelka said at the time, he didn’t know why the deaths increased the past year at the jail. He said two or three deaths prior to that from the past 10 years were from natural causes.

First-degree manslaughter charges against three men — Edward Brown Sr., Markie Ishman and Calvin Riss — in the Aug. 16, 2023, death of Matthew David Jones.

Investigations into some of the other deaths are still pending or were determined to be from suicide or natural causes, Cabelka said.

“There are a few that we are still waiting for a Medical Examiner’s report,” he said, “but the OSBI has completed the rest of the investigation.”