Felony charges recommended in Milwaukee inmate's death by dehydration

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Now the DA will decide whether to follow the jury's recommendation. Jail Lt. Kashka Meadors; and corrections officers James Ramsey-Guy, Thomas Laine, John Weber, Dominique Smith and JorDon Johnson-had all committed a crime.

It's a case that will include those not mentioned by prosecutors - as well as a captain the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office says resigned over the weekend.

Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm said: "Keeping somebody safe, not neglecting them and not ill treating them, that's not a very high standard, it's really not, and correctional systems around the country have learned how to do this".

Kimberly Perry, the 39-year-old mother of Thomas' 3 children, told AP that the jury hearings were hard to witness. One of the cases happened a week after Thomas' death.

In both subsequent instances it wasn't clear when the water was turned back on. "This is a pattern", Assistant District Attorney Kurt Bentley said.

Other inmates had their water turned off after Thomas died as well, according to WISN.

A series of corrections officers took the stand to say they had no idea that Thomas had been denied water for days, the Journal Sentinel reported.

Those two inmates were punished for covering their cell windows, jail logs show.

Sheriff David Clarke is responsible for operating the jail, but the criminal inquest did not target him.

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Horn, who now teaches at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of NY, said Clarke should bear some of the responsibility for Thomas' death even if he wasn't directly involved.

Terrill Thomas, 38, was found dead previous year in his cell naked with "dried up blood around his groin and trailing down his right leg", according to a federal lawsuit filed by his family in March.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has rejected calls by an immigrant rights group to remove Clarke from office.

Thomas' death was one of four at Clarke's jail in 2016, but the only one in which prosecutors are considering charges. His family, which is suing the county over his death, has said he was having a mental breakdown at the time he was arrested.

Earlier Monday the jury heard that in the weeks after Thomas died jail officials ordered the water shut off for two other inmates in the disciplinary pod of the Milwaukee County Jail.

According to evidence presented at the inquest, jail staffers failed to log the shutting off of Thomas' water supply, an action that was taken after Thomas allegedly flooded his cell by stuffing a mattress in the toilet.

Meadors is accused of giving the order to shut off water, and Ramsey-Guy of carrying it out.

Jail lieutenants seemed to suggest that higher-ups weren't going to move Thomas despite his condition and despite some jailers feeling he needed help, officer Mario Dantzler said.

Kimberly Perry, the mother of one of Thomas' three children, said it was hard to be in court watching the proceedings at times.

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