OKLAHOMA COUNTY (KFOR) – Another inmate death at the Oklahoma County Detention Center, making it the 15th inmate death this year. The 57-year-old woman died just before 1 a.m. Saturday morning following a medical emergency.
The jail said the Oklahoma County Jail inmate, Renee Houston, passed away at the hospital after a medical emergency.
Saturday morning’s death comes just over two months after inmate John Basco died inside Oklahoma County’s Jail.
“You can see from the booking photos he’s clear eyed, in good health, clear eyed. He is [then] mysteriously dead,” said Cameron Spradling, John Basco’s attorney.
Cameron Spradling is John Basco’s attorney.
According to jail officials, Basco was arrested back in September on drug trafficking charges as well as carrying or possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.
Last year, Basco and other former inmates filed a lawsuit claiming that in 2019 they were pulled out of their cells in the middle of the night, handcuffed and forced to listen to the song “Baby Shark,” in some cases for hours at a time.
“It’s a known torture device that’s used by CIA. In other words, to play it on a loop for hours on end… and they just did it for sport… And John Basco was the best witness the district attorney had on the baby shark torture case,” said Spradling.
As for this case, inmate Renee Houston died at the hospital following a medical emergency.
The jail said she was previously being cared for on the jail’s medical floor.
Around 11:40 Friday night, a detention officer called for medical assistance and other officers to respond to Houston’s cell.
They immediately began life-saving efforts.
Emergency responders arrived quickly, continued resuscitation efforts and transported her to the hospital where she later died.
Houston was booked into the detention center on August 29th of this year.
This also comes nearly two weeks after the Oklahoma County Jail Trust meeting where CEO of the Oklahoma County Detention Center, Greg Williams, was grilled by the community for infrastructure problems, staff turnover and detainee deaths at the jail.
“I’m open to any comment, any suggestions, any help that we can get,” said Greg Williams, CEO of the Oklahoma County Detention Center.
We did reach out to the jail to learn more about what that medical emergency was… but it is a Saturday, so we will follow up again Monday.
The jail said the State Medical Examiner’s Office will make a final determination as to the cause of death.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations has also been notified.
KFOR reached out to the jail to learn more about what that medical emergency was, but it is a weekend, so our team will follow up again Monday.
