Now that a jury has recommended charges against seven jail employees for the dehydration death of an inmate last year, the decision whether to actually charge them rests in the hands of the Milwaukee County District Attorney.
The jury's recommendation came Monday after they found probable cause that inmate Terrill Thomas' death was a crime.
District Attorney John Chisholm said following the jury's recommendation that he needs time to evaluate everything and that he has to start the process over before he can make a charging decision.
"Our next review is going to be 'do we have enough now to charge individuals with crimes?'" Chisholm said Monday.
A UWM criminal justice professor explains that the inquest process can be very helpful to prosecutors, although it's a rarely used legal proceeding.
"It's giving the prosecutor more time, more information to make a better call," said Dr. Stan Stojkovic, dean and professor at the UWM School of Social Welfare. "It's good for prosecutors I think...in the sense that they may unveil and uncover things his investigative team may not."
Stojkovic has an extensive background in criminal justice, including experience at a state prison in Michigan.
He believes Thomas’ dehydration death is unacceptable in any circumstance.
"This is not within the pale of any acceptable correctional standard, this is more analogous to torture," he said. "At the end of the day, nobody can condone that kind of activity."
Testimony revealed jail staff turned off the water to Thomas' cell and it remained off for seven days.
Because Thomas was in solitary confinement, he wasn't given anything to drink during that time, per jail procedure. While in solitary confinement, inmates are supposed to rely on water from their cell.
Several correctional officers testified during last week's inquest that they were unaware his water had been turned off, since that action was never logged.
On Monday, a jury recommended charging seven jail employees with a felony count of abuse for their roles in Thomas' death.
But their decision only aides the District Attorney, he's not required to act on, nor is he limited by the jury's recommendation.
"I think you can tell by the amount of effort we put into investigating this case that we take it very seriously as well," said Chisholm.
Chisholm said he has no timeline on when he will make his decision.
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