By Peter Krouse
cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cuyahoga County released body camera and surveillance video on Tuesday shedding light on the death of an inmate last year.
The footage showed the morning a 41-year-old female inmate was found unresponsive in the mental health unit of the Cuyahoga County Jail on Feb. 23, 2025.
Medical staff administered aid to Jennifer Ward Wade, but she was pronounced dead after being transported to MetroHealth Medical Center, according to county spokeswoman Jennifer Ciaccia.
Wade was found in her cell at 4 a.m. on a Sunday. She was being treated for preexisting conditions, according to the county, and her death does not appear related to illegal substance abuse.
The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office is investigating the cause and manner of Wade’s death.
Information released by the county includes nine body camera videos and eight surveillance videos.
In one of the videos, a man is heard asking a female staff member how long Wade had been on the floor.
“Had she been laying on that floor all day?” he asked. The staffer replied, “Yeah … I mean all day from day shift to me. All day.”
The man later commented on Wade’s appearance and the time. “It’s 4:24,” he said. “And if you’re saying all day yesterday and today that’s not, that’s not good.”
In 2024, the families of two men who died at the jail filed lawsuits against the county, claiming officials failed to provide medical care in the hours leading up to the deaths of their family members.
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