MADISON, Wis. – The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has turned its wrath again on Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr.

The newspaper, in what Clarke has described as a “political hit job,” has made the sheriff out to be some heartless warden of a county jail that recorded four deaths over the course of six months.

Clarke says he’s in the Journal Sentinel’s crosshairs because of his support for President-elect Donald Trump and because the sheriff, according to reports, is in the running for a position in the Trump administration.

Reading the Journal Sentinel, it’s hard to say who it likes least, Trump or Clarke. But it’s pretty clear the newspaper is not a fan of either man.

But what the jail coverage lightly touches on or completely leaves out is that the three inmates who died at the jail were some very unhealthy people dealing with the ramifications of drug abuse and serious physical illnesses, according to autopsies obtained by Wisconsin Watchdog.

There are more questions surrounding an incident in which an inmate gave birth to a stillborn baby “without any jail or medical personnel noticing she was in labor.”

Ultimately, while the sheriff oversees the jail, the private health care provider responsible for assessing and monitoring the health of inmates is bound by a county contract. Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, not Clarke, is charged with handling the private provider.

“If there is a shortcoming here, people have to direct these questions at the medical staff,” Clarke told Wisconsin Watchdog on Wednesday. “That (private) contract is run out of the House of Correction and they report to the county executive.”

A spokeswoman for Abele blamed Clarke.

While Clarke points out that he has long supported privatizing health care at the jail and sought the contract when the county jail and the HOC were under his control, his department is not responsible for the conduct and direction of provider Armor Correctional Health Services. And he doesn’t tell the medical professionals how to do their jobs.

Death by dehydration?

The newspaper has tied the four deaths into a running narrative of mismanagement of the jail. That narrative is driven by the death of Terrill J. Thomas, 38, of Milwaukee.

Thomas was found unresponsive in his cell in the early morning hours of April 24, nine days after he was arrested on a charge of shooting a man in the chest and later firing two shots in the Potawatomi casino.

The autopsy lists the cause of death as dehydration. It describes the severity as “profound dehydration.” The manner of death was classified as a homicide, but that does not necessarily denote a crime was committed.

Inmates told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that they could hear Thomas beg for water days before his death and that his faucet had been shut off. They said corrections officers told them his water was turned off because he had flooded his previous cell and was acting erratically, the newspaper reported.

A source close to the situation told Wisconsin Watchdog that jailers provided Thomas with bottled water but he refused to drink. Another source said a county judge had visited the jail days before and asked why there was water all over Thomas’ cell.

The autopsy notes jail staff checked on Thomas every half hour, in accordance with protocol. A source close to the situation said jailers did not alert medical staff that Thomas had stopped drinking his bottled water, however.

But the medical examiner’s report also notes the inmate’s record indicated “that he claimed to have untreated diabetes and hypertension upon admission and he was not taking any medication while in the jail.”

Thomas had high levels of creatinine in his blood. Creatinine is a waste product in the blood. If too much builds up in the blood stream, creatinine attacks various organs and systems through the circulatory system. Healthy adults’ creatinine levels range from .6 to 1.2 milligrams per deciliter. Thomas’ level was at 3.9, according to the autopsy.

A persistently high creatinine level can reveal the extent of kidney damage.

Thomas’ father told investigators that his son had been hospitalized last year for mental health issues and another time in 1990, “in addition to a few other admissions for an unknown mental health problem.”

“The father stated that Terrill would be sent home on medications, but would not take them,” the autopsy states. “The parents did not know what Terrill’s mental health diagnosis was, but described it as sporadic.”

The autopsy lists bipolar disorder, “manic type,” another significant condition.

Natural causes

Kristina A. Fiebrink, 38, of West Allis, was found unresponsive in her jail cell at 7:23 a.m. on Aug. 28.

The manner of death was determined to be natural; the cause was atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, according to the Milwaukee County medical examiner.

Atherosclerosis is a disease in which plaque builds up in the arteries. Over time, the plaque hardens and narrows the arteries, limiting the flow of oxygen-rich blood to organs and other body parts.

“Atherosclerosis can lead to serious problems, including heart attack, stroke, or even death,” according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

The autopsy found 75 percent stenosis of the left descending coronary artery. Stenosis refers to an abnormal narrowing of an artery.

Fiebrink also had hypo and hyperpigmented scars on her torso, abdomen, arms and lower extremities, according to the autopsy.

She had a long criminal record, including prostitution and drug possession.

‘We have no control’

Michael J. Madden, 29, of Franklin was the most recent of the reported inmate deaths at the county jail.

Madden, who was pronounced dead at 2:23 a.m. on Oct. 28, had a history of drug abuse and problems from mitral valve prolapse, according to the medical examiner’s report.

Jail staff called a medical emergency at 1:20 a.m.

“Michael walked out from the door and sat at a table in the day room. He was very anxious and non-cooperative,” states an interview with Milwaukee County Det. Donald Desotell in the preliminary autopsy. “He threw up in the day room, twice, pink/red fluid described like Kool-Aid. They started to walk him to the clinic and he staggered and became dead weight and mumbling so he was sat down along the wall.”

Madden’s mother, Gail Stockton, told investigators that Madden had been diagnosed at the age of 4 with a mitral valve prolapse, which had never been corrected. He also had aortic stenosis, or GERD, a narrowing of the aortic valve. Stenosis prevents the valve from opening properly, forcing the heart to work harder to pump blood through the valve. The overload causes pressure to build up in the left ventricle and thickens the heart muscle.

Stockton also said her son was going through withdrawals when he went into the county jail days before, presumably from heroin. She said she spoke to Madden two days before and he said he was no longer experiencing withdrawals but had a “really bad headache.”

There were no signs of trauma on Madden’s body, the autopsy noted.

Clarke said what the Journal Sentinel’s “hit job” missed is the fact that jail populations are filled with sick people who have made a lot of bad decisions that have compromised their health.

“Two inmates suffered from severed cardiac disease, which became critical when coupled with the effects of hardcore drug usage prior to their incarceration, with their extensive drug histories independently noted in their death investigations,” he said.

That said, the medical assessment and care of inmates is the responsibility of Armor, and Abele ultimately is responsible for that health care provider contract.

Abele’s spokeswoman, Melissa Moore Baldauff, said the House of Corrections management of the contract is administrative. The county may impose penalties “stipulated in the contract” if Armor, for instance, “fails to conduct a secondary screening of new prisoners at the jail within 60 minutes of admission.”

“However, we have no control over the operation of the medical program at the County Jail,” she said. In short, she blames the sheriff.

“The sheriff decides what policies he will enact that either facilitate or hinder the medical program at the jail, including how and when medical staff can carry out their responsibilities,” Bauldauff said. “Also, the issue regarding the penalty for not completing the secondary medical screening within 60 minutes is dependent on the Sheriff’s Office; the Sheriff’s Office has to tell us this has not been done if we are to enforce the penalty (we are not allowed into the jail nor are we provided any reports by the Sheriff’s Office). To date they have never informed us to impose that penalty.”

Abele and Board of Supervisors Chairman Theodore Lipscomb Sr. have called on Clarke to bring in outside investigators rather than having the deaths investigated by the Sheriff’s Office.

To Bauldauff’s comment about the sheriff deciding health care policies, Clarke said that’s not his purview.

“I have no medical experience or expertise to say that a trained doctor or nurse is not doing their job. What she said is one of the stupidest things I have heard in a very long time,” the sheriff said.

No pattern

Earlier this month, inmate Shade’ Swayzer claimed a corrections officer dismissed her request for medical assistance when she went into labor, a failure that contributed to her newborn’s death in her jail cell in July.

Now the 30-year-old mother is suing the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office for $8.5 million in damages.

The department has said Swayzer never informed jail staff that she was going into labor, and Armor said Swayzer’s child was stillborn. Swayzer told the Journal Sentinel that her child was “born alive, cried profusely and was breastfed.”

Multiple sources close to the situation tell Wisconsin Watchdog the sheriff’s department may seek criminal charges against Swayzer for neglect.

The autopsy lists the cause and manner of death as undetermined. The autopsy does not note breast milk found in the infant’s stomach lining.

Clarke said there is no pattern or connection in the jailhouse deaths, but the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has feverishly labored to manufacture one.

“This has everything to do with politics and my support of Donald Trump,” the sheriff said. “These people are invested in bringing me down.”