THIRD FAYETTE JAIL INMATE IN 3 MONTHS DIES

Man Booked For Intoxication; Official Says Cause Was Natural

A Fayette County jail inmate died yesterday after he was booked for
alcohol intoxication -- the third inmate to die in less than three months.

Drugs or alcohol could also have been factors in the previous two deaths.

Lt. Darin Kelly, a spokesman for the Fayette County Detention Center,
said yesterday the jail is not yet looking to change its policies for
handling impaired inmates. "We're looking at a natural cause of
death," Kelly said yesterday about the latest death. "We can't
prevent that at all. There's nothing you can do about it."

The coroner's office did not release the cause of death or the name
of the 55-year-old inmate who died yesterday. An autopsy is scheduled
for this week.

Police arrested the man just after noon Monday. He was charged with
alcohol intoxication and lodged in the Fayette County Detention
Center at 1:52 p.m.

Kelly said the man cooperated with police and jail officials and was
not involved in any altercations at the jail.

Because the man had been arrested for alcohol intoxication at least
three times this year, he was not able to leave the jail after an
eight-hour sobering-up period -- as is the case for first- and
second-time alcohol intoxication offenders. Instead, the man was to
go to court or pay a $104 bond to get out of jail.

His arraignment was set for yesterday afternoon. But when jail
officials went to get him just after 11 a.m., they found him unresponsive.

"The guy was just lying there, he looked like he was asleep," Kelly said.

The man, who was alone in the cell all night, was pronounced dead by
the Fayette County coroner's office at 11:58 a.m.

Kelly said foul play is not suspected, but the jail is investigating
and is putting together a chronology of events, including who saw the
man last and at what time. Kelly did not have those answers yesterday.

There still are unanswered questions about two other recent inmate deaths.

Joseph Hill, who died Oct. 28 after becoming ill at the jail, might
have suffered a cocaine overdose, jail officials say.

Hill, 26, was arrested that same day on a third-degree criminal
trespassing charge. But at the jail he broke into convulsions, Kelly
said. An ambulance took Hill to the University of Kentucky Hospital,
where he died.

When Hill began having seizures, a person who was arrested with him
told jail officials Hill had swallowed a quarter of an ounce of
cocaine before his arrest, Kelly said.

Hill had cooperated with jail officials and was about to be bailed
out when he went into convulsions.

The coroner's office has not yet ruled on what caused Hill's death
and is waiting for toxicology results.

In August, Gerald Cornett was described as talkative and giddy when
being booked into the Fayette jail on public intoxication charges. He
died five days after falling in the jail, though it was unclear
whether he was injured before he arrived.

Lexington police are investigating the deaths of Hill and Cornett,
but are waiting for autopsy results in both cases.