Another Sad Jail Homicide

The news of a troubling jail death in Prince George’s County, in which a black man accused of killing a white officer was found strangled to death in his solitary cell, comes with another sad story of homicide behind behind bars. One morning this March, DC jail staff checked in on a 44-year-old inmate named Houston Quildon and “discovered that his blood pressure was low,” according to a release. Twenty-five minutes later, Quildon had lost consciousness. Emergency personnel took him to Greater Southeast Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.The Medical Examiner initially ruled Quildon’s death a result of natural causes. But yesterday, investigators said they now believe Quildon was killed. Back in September, he had been assaulted in his cell and suffered a fractured mandible. Despite surgery, his health continued to deteriorate. Police have a requested a warrant for the homicide, but have not released the name of their suspect.

This wasn’t the first episode in Quildon’s nightmarish experience with the D.C. jail. Back in 2006, in custody on drug charges, he had surgery for esophageal cancer and had to send his defense attorney to court to argue for the follow-up treatment he thought he deserved. Here’s part of the story, from the Washington Times.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 at 8:28 am and is filed under D.C. Jail. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.