Lowndes County Jail Inmate Sammy Harris Dies After Collapsing
In Mississippi news, 44-year-old Sammy Harris was on his 37th day of incarceration at Lowndes County Adult Detention Center and awaiting trial when he collapsed. It was 6 p.m., and Mr. Harris was climbing some stairs on the way to his cell at the time. Lifesaving measures were immediately initiated by detention center staff, including the application of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
Lifesaving efforts continued until Columbus Fire Department personnel and emergency medical technicians arrived. Mr. Harris was then transported by ambulance to Baptist Memorial Hospital–Golden Triangle. Tragically, Sammy Harris was pronounced deceased at 6:54 p.m. that day, which was August 10, 2025.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation will conduct a full investigation into the death of Mr. Harris, in keeping with state law and internal protocol. The Lowndes County Coroner’s Office will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death.
The inmate’s name was released only after the next of kin were notified. The Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office extended its thoughts and prayers to Mr. Harris’ family and loved ones during this difficult time.
The address of the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center is 527 S Martin Luther King Jr Dr, Columbus, 39701, MS. The jail has a maximum inmate capacity of 236.
An Inmate in the Corinth MS Jail Dies of Diabetic Ketoacidosis
James Tatsch was booked into Alcorn County Jail and had been an inmate there for 12 days when he was discovered unresponsive in an isolation cell. He was moved to a local hospital and pronounced deceased that day, January 17, 2024. No criminal charges were pending.
Rather, Mr. Tatsch was waiting for mental health treatment under Mississippi’s involuntary commitment program. Also known as civil commitment, it is a legal process in which an individual is court-ordered, potentially against their will, for treatment or evaluation in a mental health facility.
Tragically, Mr. Tatsch was incarcerated without having even been found guilty of a crime because his death was 100% preventable. The real crime in this story may be that Mr. Tatsch’s death was caused by diabetic ketoacidosis, according to the findings of the State Medical Examiner’s Office (SMEO).
The jail staff were fully aware that Mr. Tatsch was a diabetic and required insulin to stay alive. Yet, somehow, Alcorn County Sheriff Ben Caldwell does not believe the jail is at fault for his death, according to Mississippi Today, which spoke with him about the tragic incident.
The Alcorn County Regional Correctional Facility admittedly does not have a uniform or written policy for treating patients with diabetes, Sheriff Caldwell explained. The responsibility is rolled onto the jail’s medical staff, with apparently no expectation of jail staff who have daily interactions with inmates.
The way to prevent deaths from diabetic ketoacidosis is to administer the daily insulin that diabetic inmates must have. It is as simple as that. Symptoms will appear if diabetics don’t have the insulin they need, and jail staff should know what to look for so that warning signs of quickly encroaching death can be recognized before it is too late.
At the time of his death, Mr. Tatsch was one of at least 15 inmates who died while forced to participate in Mississippi’s involuntary commitment process. If that isn’t bad enough, nine of those mentally ill detainees died from suicide, also a highly preventable type of custodial death. A strict regimen of direct supervision is virtually all that is needed to prevent the vast majority of jail suicides.
The Address of Alcorn County Jail, also known as the Alcorn County Regional Correctional Facility, is 2839 S Harper Rd, Corinth, MS 38834. The jail has a 256-bed capacity.
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