Inmate dies at Thurston County Jail amid drug outbreak. Sheriff blames scanner limits
The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office has requested an independent investigation from the Region 3 Critical Incident Investigation Team after another inmate died at the Thurston County Jail — the second death at the jail in September.
The investigation will be led by the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office.
According to a news release from TCSO, deputies and fire personnel responded to the jail just after 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 14, to reports of an inmate in medical crisis.
Corrections staff and on-site medical personnel immediately began life-saving efforts, which were continued by arriving medics. The medics began to transport the inmate, at which time he was pronounced dead.
Coroner Gary Warnock said the inmate was a 53-year-old man. He could not confirm his name.
Sheriff Derek Sanders posted on his social media on Sunday evening about the incident. He said while the cause of death has not been determined yet, there has recently been another outbreak of drugs getting into the jail.
The sheriff said every time an inmate dies, some people immediately insinuate that corrections deputies are supplying drugs inside the jail. He said since he’s taken office, not one inmate, social worker, nurse, technician, attorney or anyone else has made an allegation that this is happening in Thurston County.
“I’ll say that again: It’s not that deputies have been alleged to supply drugs and were cleared after investigation,” he said. “Not one deputy has been accused, period. If a deputy were to supply drugs inside our jail, they would be fired and arrested for numerous felony crimes.”
However, he said inmates who have been in the jail for longer periods of time to help break free from addiction have said inmates are bringing drugs into the facility. He said suspects are swallowing drugs in a balloon before they’re arrested, then defecating the drugs and distributing them once inside the jail.
Sanders said the Sheriff’s Office has made it clear this problem would only get worse with the limits on body scanners.
“We can no longer clearly see drugs inside rectal and stomach cavities, and state law only allows strip searching in very few, specific scenarios,” he said. “This means that nearly every inmate booked into jail will enter without a strip search and without a clear picture of what is inside of them.”
Sanders said the drug epidemic is well established, and patrol officers and deputies respond to fatal overdoses daily. He said to expect anything different inside jails is unrealistic when solutions to keep drugs out are challenged and diluted.
“When I took office, I knew only a very basic overview of the jail,” he said. “After spending more time inside the facility, it is beyond apparent to me that the deputies inside our jail do their jobs to the best of their ability without the expectation of ever being thanked, despite their critical role in public safety. It is because of corrections staff that victims, their families, and the general public are free from the terror that our most serious offenders inflict on society.”
He said if anyone has reason to believe a deputy in the jail is dealing drugs, to file a complaint or call 360-704-2740.
“Absent substantiated claims, I find it disheartening to villainize the same deputies who, due to no fault of their own, are being regularly required to provide life-saving care because of rules they neither made nor asked for,” Sanders said. “As long as the State of Washington prioritizes keeping inmates safe from low doses of radiation over fentanyl exposure, this problem will only worsen.”
This story was originally published September 15, 2025 at 10:32 AM.
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