MILWAUKEE — Diamond Mack began dating her fiancé Terrance Mack six years ago, but she’s known him since elementary school.
“He was the life of the party,” she said. “He tried to make everybody happy, everybody.”
Now Terrance, a man who has always been a part of her life, is gone after dying in his cell at the Milwaukee County Jail Thursday morning.
“It’s a nightmare that I’m just waiting to wake up from,” Diamond told TMJ4.
He was in custody since Jan. 31. Diamond says that talking with him on the phone and through text every day helped with the separation. It was when she didn’t hear from him on Thursday that she knew something wasn’t right. She got her last text from him on Wednesday night around 8 p.m.
“He was telling me he was hurting he was trying to sleep the pain off and he told me he loved me.”
She says he never responded to her after that, which was unlike him.
“I was waiting to hear, I’m never not talking to him. Never. I knew for a fact that something was wrong.”
It was later Thursday afternoon she received a call saying he had passed away.
Officials say the cause of Terrance’s death is unknown. Now she’s left to wonder what happened to her best friend.
Mack is now the third inmate in eight months to die inside the county jail.
She’s remembering her fiancé through memories, pictures, and the ring on her finger.
Third inmate found dead in cell at Milwaukee County Jail since December
By Mariam Mackar, Julia Marshall, March 17, 2023
MILWAUKEE — The Waukesha County Sheriff's Department is investigating after an inmate was found dead in their cell at the Milwaukee County Jail Thursday morning.
Family members identified the man to TMJ4 News as 37-year-old Terrance Mack.
The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office said a man, Mack, was found unresponsive in his cell, in bed, during a scheduled medication pass. Officials performed life-saving measures but they were unsuccessful.
Related: Over-capacity and understaffed Milwaukee County Jail records second inmate death since December
Mack was declared dead at 9:49 a.m. He had been in custody since Jan. 31 when he was brought in on charges of 1st-degree recklessly endangering safety with the use of a dangerous weapon, possession of methamphetamines, possession with intent of heroin and fentanyl, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and resisting or obstructing an officer.
No additional details were provided, but MCSO said the Waukesha County Sheriff's Department is investigating.
The news comes less than two months after Octaviano Juarez-Corro, 49, was found dead in his cell. That incident is also being investigated by the Waukesha County Sheriff's Department.
There have been three inmate deaths at the Milwaukee County jail since December. The first was a 20-year-old woman who died by suicide in the jail.
Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and Justice for Brieon Green Coalition issued a statement, saying in part:
"How many more deaths need to happen until there is accountability and change inside the Milwaukee County Jail? Milwaukee cannot keep waiting on Sheriff Ball, for lives are at stake. The Justice for Brieon Green Coalition is demanding the following:
- MCSO to allow members of the Justice for Brieon Green Coalition to tour the jail
- MCSO to hold a public town hall with Denita Ball now
- Transparency in all cases and in how the jail operates
- Independent (non-law enforcement) investigations into the deaths and into the conditions of the jail"
"I think we need a fresh set of eyes to look into this," said Alan Chavoya, outreach chair for the Alliance. "I think we need an independent investigation, and by independent, I don't just mean not Milwaukee County Sheriff, by independent I mean non-law enforcement."
The Justice for Brieon Green Coalition, who works closely with families of people who have died in police custody, says they want more transparency from authorities
"When we're working with families, two things that are immediately common that they demand is release of the footage so that they're able to grieve and understand exactly what happened," shared Lauryn Cross from the Coalition.
The Brieon Green Coalition will be holding a demonstration for more transparency from MCSO in front of the Milwaukee County Public Safety building on Tuesday.
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