Floyd County inmate dies in custody, reigniting KY jail conditions debate
A Hazard man died Saturday at the Floyd County Detention Center in what police say appears to be a suicide, renewing concerns about safety at the Eastern Kentucky jail once known for contraband, overcrowding and inmate deaths.
Jeffery Lumpkins, 39, was found unresponsive Nov. 29 following an “apparent suicide attempt,” according to the Prestonsburg Police Department. He was later pronounced dead at Highlands Regional Medical Center, despite efforts to resuscitate him by jail staff and emergency responders.
His death has reignited concerns about conditions at the jail following several years of in-custody deaths blamed on illegal drug contraband making its way into the facility, poor staffing and overcrowding. Prior inspections by the Kentucky Department of Corrections between 2019 and 2021 depicted the 150-bed jail’s interior as containing “excessive amounts of trash” and rife with broken bathroom fixtures, cracked windows, exposed wires and uncovered floor mats where inmates sleep.
Conditions have reportedly improved since Floyd County jailer Steve Little ousted incumbent Stuart “Bear” Halbert in 2022, but the facility still faces funding pressures amid the rapid decline of Floyd County coal severance tax funds.
High-definition video surveillance reviewed by police show Lumpkins entering the bathroom of a maximum-security loop pod occupied by four other inmates, Prestonsburg Police Chief Ross Shurtleff said. Although a fish-eye camera over the pod does not record inside the bathroom, no other inmates entered the bathroom in the 20 to 30 minutes before Lumpkins entered and his body was discovered.
Preliminary findings from the state medical examiner’s office in Frankfort are consistent with suicide by hanging using a blanket, police said, but a toxicology report is pending. Floyd County Coroner Gregory Nelson has not yet issued a cause of death.
“This is going to be an ongoing investigation until we get an absolute finding of fact from all involved parties,” Shurtleff told the Herald-Leader.
Based on preliminary findings, however, Shurtleff said he feels confident the death will be ruled a suicide.
Lumpkins’ death is the fourth at the Prestonsburg jail since 2020, according to Kentucky Department of Corrections data obtained by the Herald-Leader. Earlier deaths occurred in 2020, 2022 and 2023. A Herald-Leader investigation earlier this year found hundreds of individuals have died in Kentucky jails over the past five years, and critics believe facilities are ill-equipped to provide health care for inmates.
More than 7 in 10 individuals who died in Kentucky jails had not been convicted of a crime, the Herald-Leader found. Jails are temporary holding facilities for people who have been charged with crimes as they await court proceedings.
Lumpkins was being held on a $100,000 cash bond on multiple felony charges, including fleeing police, wanton endangerment and several traffic violations, according to court records. He was arrested by Kentucky State Police Nov. 10 following what troopers described as a high-speed chase near a rural coal town southwest of Prestonsburg called David.
Deaths at the Floyd County Detention Center
Until recently, the Floyd County Detention Center had earned a bad reputation for its role in the Eastern Kentucky opioid crisis, as drugs regularly flowed into the facility and inmates charged on drug-related offenses crowded the 30-year-old jail.
At least six deaths occurred there under the prior jailer between 2015 and 2022, Shurtleff said, and many of them were drug-related. This is the first death of an inmate under Little’s watch. A 2023 overdose death, which appears as a jail death according to the state corrections department, occurred in the booking area before the individual had been thoroughly searched and booked, according to Shurtleff.
The facility began ramping up enforcement on contraband in 2018 after Halbert’s first three years saw 188 inmates charged with hundreds of counts of contraband. The prior eight years saw just 118 counts. Then, in 2021, one of Halbert’s deputies was charged with smuggling drugs into the jail.
The controversy proved too much for Halbert, who lost his bid for re-election in the 2022 Democratic primary.
As of late last month, the Floyd County facility housed 112 inmates, below its maximum threshold. Little did not respond to multiple Herald-Leader requests for comment.
The staff are fully cooperating with the Prestonsburg Police Department investigation, Shurtleff said. All camera footage was immediately handed over to detectives, and deputy jailers have been instructed to sit for interviews.
“He’s a good jailer,” Shurtleff said of Little. “He works hard, and he’s done a lot to fix things at that jail.”
