Milwaukee County Jail death, inmate's mother shares pain with sheriff
MILWAUKEE - The mother of a woman who died in the Milwaukee County Jail shared her heartbreak during a public hearing on Sept. 11, as the sheriff looked on.
"Every time I come back here, I’m reminded by the fact that I’m not going to go home with my kid once and again," said Kerrie Hirte, mother of Cilivea Thyrion. "Only to go home and wake up every morning to wish my family was there, that my daughter would still be here."
Thyrion died in the Milwaukee County Jail in December 2022. Hers is among six deaths in the span 14 months; three were deemed suicides, while others had medical problems.
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Cilivea Thyrion
"She would have been a great successor," said Hirte. "She cared about people. She was willing to help people while she was incarcerated."
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The sheriff’s office said at the time of the death staff discovered Thyrion in distress and first responders treated her. The sheriff's office said she died about 45 minutes later.
In August, the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office cleared the correctional officers of any crime, stating that Thyrion was having her period, and the correctional officers gave her a diaper instead of other feminine products because she was on suicide watch. The DA's report said she had ingested parts of it.
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Kerrie Hirte
"I’m willing to fight for change, and that’s why I’m here," said Hirte.
During a Milwaukee County Board Judiciary, Law Enforcement and General Services Committee hearing, supervisors questioned the sheriff's office. The meeting followed the county board requesting the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office complete a report about its jail operations. With that report now finished, county supervisors used the opportunity to ask the sheriff's staff what was being done to keep inmates safe.
"What substantial recommendations or substantial plans do we have in this document that would prevent a death like that?" said Supervisor Ryan Clancy of Thyrion's death.
"About a third of our population have very serious mental health issues," said Inspector Aaron Dobson. "We have a lot of people with serious medical issues. We have 160 people in our care who have homicide charges."
In particular, sheriff's office staff pointed to staffing challenges.
"You can help us with that. Our biggest problem is we don’t have enough people. We do not have enough staff members to do the best job we can," Dobson added. "We need 100 more people, and we need to pay these people appropriately, if we want to have more and better staff. We are just not competitive in the job market right now."
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Group seeks to address Milwaukee County Jail inmate concerns after Cilivea Thyrion's death
The sheriff's office says staffing at the jail is 40% lower than it should be.
"It’s very difficult to try to run the facility with 100 officers short, and sometimes, it feels nearly impossible to figure out where to pull people from to staff all the positions needed," said Captain Joshua Briggs, jail commander.
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Group seeks to address Milwaukee County Jail inmate concerns after Cilivea Thyrion's death
"We've even been criticized because our jail is short-staffed, even though this is a nationwide problem across nearly every industry, by critics who know that our correctional officers can earn more money working elsewhere," said Milwaukee County Sheriff Denita Ball.
Clancy, a regular critic of the sheriff's office, said they had provided pay raises during the past 14 months, when six people died in custody, including Hirte's daughter.
"They’ve been given all this stuff and here I am as a mother without a child," Hirte told the committee about funding for the sheriff's office, with Ball seated behind her. "You give them more, you think things are going to change? No, they need to be held accountable for what is there now and change what is there now."
While other staff responded to county board supervisors' questions about the jail deaths, Ball spoke at the beginning of the session on the jail report.
"No individual and no institution, especially no government institution is above scrutiny, constructive feedback, or even criticism and reproach, when warranted; but too often in recent years, criticisms of this agency by certain individuals with public platforms, have been framed in half-truths, confusion, and sometimes outright lies," said the sheriff.
On complaints about not providing free video calls to inmates, Ball said the county board would have to pay for it. In addition, she criticized allegations that people who are not contagiously ill or on heightened disciplinary restriction are confined to their cells for 20-23 hours a day.
"The irony is Wisconsin state statute requires no more than one hour of out-of-cell time per day. Even short-staffed, our hardworking correctional staff consistently ensure occupants are out of their cells 6.5-7 hours per day, every day with rare exceptions."
At one point in the hearing, Milwaukee County Corporate Counsel Margaret Daun spoke about societal challenges.
"If we had a vibrant mental health care system on-demand, for free, would we see as many people incarcerated in our facilities as we do? No. If we saw true minimum wages, would we see so many people incarcerated? No."
Still, Harte thinks more could have been done inside the jail to help her daughter, who had a history of ingesting dangerous items.
"I feel that things could have resulted where she would still be here today."