A 26-year-old inmate died on Sept. 1 after sustaining a self-inflicted injury while inside an Orange County, California, jail.
Authorities identified the inmate as Paul Gill, who had been incarcerated for three weeks at the maximum-security Theo Lacy facility in the City of Orange.
Gill harmed himself prior to receiving a mental health evaluation, according to Carrie Braun, the public affairs director for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. He was taken to the hospital, where he became unresponsive and succumbed to his injuries.
Braun said that while deputies were attempting to transfer Gill for his mental health evaluation, a use of force occurred after he resisted the officers.
“He had a self-inflicted injury that caused him to need to go to the hospital, but that should not be misinterpreted to say that he committed suicide,” Braun told The Epoch Times.
Braun said she was not at liberty to discuss specifics regarding the injury or the actions of the deputies.
“It is part of the investigation that the District Attorney’s office will be conducting. It was the deputies who were attempting to move him to a different location for a mental health evaluation,” she said.
As is the case with all in-custody deaths, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office will be investigating Gill’s death. The office said details would be withheld until the investigation is closed.
Kimberly Edds, the public information officer for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, told The Epoch Times that Gill’s death “is a current, open investigation by our office.”
“Our office investigates every in-custody death in Orange County, as well as officer-involved shootings, so we’re not going to be able to provide any information at this time because it’s all being investigated,” Edds said.
According to Braun, Gill was transferred into the Theo Lacy Facility from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department on Aug. 14. He was wanted for allegedly burglarizing residential homes, theft, and other weapons-related offenses in Orange County.
