Overdoses and an Inmate Death Discussed During Clearfield County Prison Board Meeting

By Julie Rae Rickard

CLEARFIELD – Three inmates overdosed at the Clearfield County Jail within a few days of each other in early July. The parents of the inmate who died attended the Prison Board meeting on July 25, asking for answers.

On July 8 at 2:30 a.m., authorities say a corrections officer saw Kaitlyn Renee Evans, 31, who appeared to be asleep while sitting up on her bunk. When she did not respond, it was discovered she was “not breathing”.

Steps were taken to revive her and emergency personnel were called. She was declared dead by the coroner at 3:30 a.m., according to a previous release from the county commissioners.

In response to Harold and Heather Walstrom’s questions during the meeting, Commissioner Dave Glass noted that the investigation is ongoing and Commissioner John Sobel stated they have been advised by their solicitor not to say anything at this time.

“We always want to be transparent,” said President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman, but agreed that can’t say anything more yet.

Ammerman expressed sympathy to the family.

District Attorney Ryan Sayers and other members of the prison board agreed to talk privately with the Walstroms following the meeting.

Obviously still stunned by their loss, Walstrom commented that when Kaitlyn who was known to do drugs was arrested, “we were relieved. We thought she would be safe, but the system failed her,” adding that he is a former corrections officer so he thought being incarcerated would be the best place for her.

Ammerman then commented that he couldn’t remember the last time someone died from an over dose at the jail because deaths there are more likely to be medical issues or suicide.

Although no official cause of death has been released for Kaitlyn, the rumor has been that it was an overdose and happened two days after two other female inmates overdosed at the facility. Both of them were able to be revived by the use of Narcan, according to a previous report.

The source of the substance taken by the girls is part of the investigation as well.

Kaitlyn Evans was incarcerated at the jail in connection with a traffic stop in Lawrence Township on May 24.

The vehicle she was riding in allegedly had several blocks of Fentanyl, cash, pills and drug paraphernalia.

The board also discussed staffing at the jail.

With recent resignations, the jail is short five corrections officers, according to Warden David Gallagher but he does have some interviews set up already with potential employees.

Ammerman mentioned that currently there are 55 people on supervised bail which requires more extensive supervision from a probation officer and currently they are all handled by the same officer.

“We are not putting people on supervised bail because of this,” he stated. “The probation office can’t handle what we already have.”

Supervised bail is used for someone who may have already had their bail revoked, but may not need to be incarcerated. They report more often to probation and have regular drug tests.

Not having the option of supervised bail will in turn, lead to more people being placed in the jail.

Ammerman also noted that there are still staffing shortages in the Children, Youth and Family Services as well as Domestic Relations departments.

The probation office which is fully staffed would need to actually add positions to handle their ever increasing workload.

A short discussion was held on the issue of alerting the public to an inmate escape which was brought to light after an inmate left the jail in late May.

In the June meeting, both Sheriff Mike Churner and Sayers stated they were not alerted about the escape until three hours later.

The public had also voiced outrage that they were not warned about an escapee.

That discussion led to the formation of a sub-committee to determine the best way to handle this type of information.

In the July meeting, Glass stated that Commissioner Mary Tatum, who was not available for the meeting, had put together a phone tree and the 911 center has tools to release information.

Gallagher pointed out that on the county 911 website, clearfield911.com, there is a small icon where the public can sign up to receive text or email alerts.

Glass suggested revisiting this issue and ways to publicize the “One Call” system at the next meeting on Aug. 15.