Arlington’s public safety drones are ready to fly, the county announced this morning.
The drones “are an additional tool for first responders and provide enhanced operational capability, safety, and situational awareness in support of public safety,” the county said.
The Arlington County Board and the Human Rights Commission are at odds over whether commissioners had the right to request an investigation into possible human and civil rights violations at the county jail.
Earlier this month, the commission sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice, voicing concerns over reports that inmates at the jail lack adequate healthcare, a situation they argue could put them “at risk of death and severe harm.” This follows up on letters to the County Sheriff’s Office and the DOJ from the Arlington branch of the NAACP and its national organization, asking for an investigation after hearing from former and current inmates.
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The Arlington County Sheriff’s Office is facing mounting pressure from personnel, inmates and the NAACP to address worsening conditions at the county jail.
A 55-year-old inmate has died in the Arlington County jail, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
This is the second death the detention facility has logged this year, after 73-year-old Abonesh Woldegeorges, booked on trespassing charges, was found dead in her cell this August.
Two Arlington County Sheriff’s Office deputies prevented a near-fatal opioid overdose in the lobby of the county courthouse yesterday morning.
The individual, a member of the public and not an inmate, was found lying on the ground in the courthouse lobby at approximately 8:30 a.m. Thursday, showing signs of a severe overdose.
The hottest new pickleball club is the Arlington County Detention Facility.
Two weeks ago, the jail inaugurated its new pickleball court — installed by Arlington’s Dept. of Parks and Recreation — with a three-day tournament.
Jail entrance at the Arlington County Detention Facility (file photo)[/caption]
Of the eight people who have died in the Arlington County jail in eight years, five appear to have been homeless, according to court records.
Most recently, Abonesh Woldegeorges, a 73-year-old Black woman with no fixed address, died in the detention center on Sunday morning.
She was found at Dulles International Airport four times between 2019 and 2023 and then, this month, at Reagan National Airport, where she was arrested by airport police and sent to Arlington's jail, the Washington Post reported. Although eventually granted bond, Woldegeorges remained in jail so she could be taken to Loudoun County for a hearing related to her Dulles charges.
Her case is not unique. Her death, however, returns the jail to the spotlight after previous inmate deaths generated a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit and a civil rights investigation by the Dept. of Justice, as well as a slate of changes by the Sheriff's Office, which oversees the lockup.
Over the past year and a half it changed medical providers, purchased biometric sensors for select inmates and made other protocol changes. All of this occurred amid changing leadership: Beth Arthur retired before the end of her term and appointed as interim sheriff her Chief Deputy, Jose Quiroz.
Quiroz campaigned on improving inmate well-being and, after winning the Democratic primary, is the sole candidate for Sheriff on the November ballot.
"Clearly, changing to a new medical contractor didn’t change anything," says Michael Hemminger, president of the Arlington NAACP branch, which requested the federal inquiry he says is ongoing. "What level of care do these human beings deserve? Is it okay to continue outsourcing to a for-profit provider?"
A holding place for people without homes and with mental disorders
Court records indicate three other deceased inmates, dating back to 2015, had no address listed or their housing situation was fluid, with an address that varied by the year of their offense. A fourth the Washington Post reported was homeless and suffering from alcoholism.
Of this group, Paul Thompson (died 2022), Clyde Spencer (died 2021) and Edward Straughn (died 2015) were in jail on trespassing or public intoxication charges. Anthony Gordon (died 2015) had been convicted of assault and battery of a family member and was sentenced to five years.
The remaining inmates who have died were listed as D.C. or Maryland residents. This includes D.C. resident Darryl Becton, whose family sued Arlington County for wrongful death for $10 million and were awarded $1.3 million about three weeks ago, according to Hemminger.
That a majority of deceased inmates did not have stable housing comes as no surprise to Chief Public Defender Brad Haywood. He says the vast majority of inmates are indigent and his office has about a dozen clients right now with airport trespassing charges, specifically.
"People who have homes to go to never have to trespass. People who have money almost never steal. People who are urinating in public -- everyone I know would rather have a place to go inside," he said.
He added that more than half of jail inmates are also taking mental health medication. Statistics from the 2023 fiscal year indicate that psychotropic drugs were prescribed 1,582 times across 2,764 total commitments at Arlington's jail. Other signs of elevated mental health issues inside the jail include the 1,102 inmates assigned a mental health alert.
[caption id="attachment_302404" align="alignnone" width="1273"]
Jail statistics for the 2023 fiscal year (via Arlington County)[/caption]
That the jail has a large population of unhoused inmates with mental health disorders is both a funding issue and the result of a disconnect among the people and agencies reporting and arresting people for trespassing, he said.
"People don't think about the social conditions that lead to this," Haywood said. "It's just a combination of a lot of issues that no one really wants to confront because they're complicated and require a lot of resources."
A 73-year-old woman died this morning at the Arlington County jail.
Abonesh Woldegeorges was found unresponsive in her cell around 7 a.m. and, despite resuscitation efforts, later pronounced dead, according to Arlington County police.
After taking the helm for longtime Arlington County Sheriff Beth Arthur, who retired at the end of 2022, Acting Sheriff Jose Quiroz is one step closer to taking charge permanently.
Quiroz — backed by four of five County Board members and several elected officials — won the Democratic primary Tuesday night. Following his victory, over former sheriff deputy Wanda Younger and Arlington County police corporal James Herring, Quiroz advances to the November general election.
(Updated at 9:25 p.m.) Commonwealth’s Attorney incumbent Parisa Dehghani-Tafti has defeated challenger Josh Katcher in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
Dehghani-Tafti has 56% of the vote to 44% for Katcher, her former deputy, in the heated race for the top prosecutor of Arlington and Falls Church. That’s as of 8:40 p.m., with all but a few hundred provisional and late-arriving mailed ballots counted in Arlington. Polls closed at 7 p.m.
The pickleball craze could be headed to the local jail next.
Acting Sheriff Jose Quiroz, who is one of three vying for the support of local Democrats in the primary this coming Tuesday, said that one amenity he would like to add to the jail is a pickleball court.
