Cilivea Thyrion jail death: No wrongdoing by staff, ripped diaper before choking

MILWAUKEE — Investigators say evidence suggests Milwaukee County Jail staff members did not intend to harm nor did they act recklessly while supervising Cilivea Thyrion, an inmate who died by apparent suicide while in their care.

Thryion, 20 of Milwaukee, was found dead in her jail cell at the Milwaukee County Detention Center in December 2022. She was booked on strangulation and battery charges. She died by "apparent suicide" officials initially said and the Waukesha County Sheriff's Department was brought in to investigate as an outside agency.

Investigators released their findings to the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office on Friday. The office runs the jail and is responsible for the safety of inmates inside.

According to their report, staff members found Thyrion dead in her jail cell around 11:13 a.m. on the morning of Dec. 16, 2022. Since then investigators learned staff members found an unused adult diaper with pieces torn off in the cell besides the deceased. Pieces of the diaper were found in her system during the medical examiner's autopsy. The autopsy report has not been released. That evidence suggests Thyrion died after putting bits of the diaper in her mouth.

The report states staff members gave Thryion the adult diaper because she said she needed help because she was bleeding due to her menstrual cycle. Staff members did not give her regular undergarments because she was on suicide watch. The report states she was housed in the special needs pods in the jail due to repeated threats and actual attempts to harm herself. Outside the jail, she had been hospitalized for incidents of self-harm, according to officials.

Around 10:28 a.m. on that morning, jail staff responded to her jail cell after she reported she could not breathe. They found her apparently choking. More staff arrived and they tried to remove items from her mouth, but they could not in part due to "resistive reactions Ms. Thyrion exhibited toward jail staff attending to her," according to the report.

The Waukesha County Sheriff's Department concluded no staff members did anything to support criminal wrongdoing. Their review has concluded.

Watch and read our previous reporting about jail deaths in Milwaukee County:

By Sarah McGrew, Mar 21, 2023

MILWAUKEE — Chanting and marching outside the window of the sheriff's office, the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression continued to sound the alarm on recent deaths at the Milwaukee County Jail.

"How can there be this many deaths and no one is at fault? Someone is at fault. Many people might be at fault," said Alliance outreach chair Alan Chavoya.

Nine months ago in June, 21-year-old Brieon Green was found dead in his cell at the jail. That was ruled a suicide.

In December 2022, 20-year-old Cilivea Thyrion also died by suicide while behind bars.

In January, 49-year-old Octaviano Juarez-Corro was found dead inside the jail. That case is still under investigation.

Just last week, 37-year-old Terrance Mack was found dead in his cell. That case is also now under investigation.

Activists are calling on Milwaukee County Sheriff Danita Ball for more transparency and change.

"Where is Sheriff Ball in all of this? How many more deaths until there is action and there is change in that county jail to keep people safe?" Chavoya asked.

Members with the Alliance and the Justice for Brieon Green Coalition say they met with Sheriff Ball several months ago. They asked to tour the jail to see the conditions firsthand. They're also calling for the department's standard operating procedures to be released publicly.

Since that meeting, Chavoya said they haven't heard back from the Sheriff.

"She's kind of gone cold with us. Hasn't responded to our inquires," Chavoya said.

Now they want Sheriff Ball to address public concerns in a town hall.

"We're demanding that she hold a town hall so that the public can ask questions as to how she's operating this jail and why there are so many deaths in there," Chavoya said of their demands.

We did reach out to the sheriff's office for comment but did not hear back at the time of this story being posted.

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