The Chatham County Sheriff’s Office will bring in consultants to review procedures at the Chatham County jail following the January death of a Savannah man while in custody.
Longtime Chatham County Sheriff Al St Lawrence said in a prepared statement Tuesday he’d comprised a team of three “outside, independent” consultants who will look over existing procedures and make recommendations to improve how the jail functions and the accountability of law enforcement officers working there. The sheriff said he’d requested funding assistance from the Chatham County Commission.
The team includes Chicago physician Ronald Mark Shansky, New Mexico corrections consultant Manuel David Romero and Kentucky criminal justice and human services professional Kenneth A. Ray.
All three, according to their resumes provided by the sheriff’s office, have experience working with correctional facilities.
“The consultants have considerable experience and have acted as monitors for many correctional institutions that have faced similar challenges and have had success addressing them,” St Lawrence said in the statement.
The review comes just days after Chatham County District Attorney Meg Heap said she would present an indictment next month to a grand jury against at least some of the deputies apparently present when Matthew Ajibade, 22, died Jan. 1. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and sheriff’s office have said he died after he was placed in a restraining chair in isolation after a scuffle with deputies at the jail. St Lawrence early this month announced the firing of nine deputies, some of whom, he said, contributed to the death.
St Lawrence in the same statement announced Col. Thomas Gilberg, the detention center administrator, had retired. Assistant jail administrator Melissa Kohne has been named acting administrator.
“The institution of these actions will not address all issues in a day, or even a week,” St Lawrence’s statement read. “However, changes as necessary will be approached in a methodical manner to ensure citizens that the men and women of the sheriff’s office will continue to serve the community in accordance to the high professional standards I expect.”