For the second time this month, an inmate has died inside the Broward County jail. Joseph Kirk, 34, died Monday on his sixth day in the jail’s detoxification unit.
For the second time this month, an inmate has died inside the Broward County jail.
Joseph Kirk, 34, died Monday on his sixth day in the jail's detoxification unit.
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WATCH HEREKirk had been arrested last week for resisting arrest after his uncle called police during a domestic dispute, records show.
His uncle had hoped Kirk would be helped, not wind up dead.
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In a letter sent to the sheriff Wednesday, Broward public defender Gordon Weekes sounded the alarm over the death of Kirk and another inmate earlier this month, along with a recent attempted suicide.
"Family members are reaching out, trying to get their loved ones access to systems that are difficult to access. Our mental health system in South Florida is difficult to navigate," Weekes told NBC6. "And when they call the police out of necessity or out of desperation to get access they then find themselves in the jail and then they later find themselves dead. That is not what family members are looking for."
Weekes said there have been 21 inmate deaths in Broward dating back to 2021.
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The sheriff's office has said that most inmates come into the jail with mental health, drug abuse or medical issues, and that they spend $40 million a year on medical services.
Kirk's death remains under investigation.
