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Apr. 2--The death of an inmate at the Tulsa Jail from an apparent drug overdose Wednesday was the third death at the jail in three weeks.
The three deaths are the only ones to occur at the Tulsa Jail this year. Each death occurred in a different manner, and they are unrelated, Sheriff's Sgt. Shannon Clark said.
Bess Morgan Winfrey-Woodruff surrendered at the jail about 10:45 p.m. Tuesday and was booked on a felony warrant for application to revoke a suspended sentence and a municipal warrant for not wearing a seat belt, Clark said.
She was placed in a minimum-security,dormitory-style unit at approximately 1:20 a.m. Wednesday. A nurse arrived in the unit about 4:30 a.m. to dispense prescribed medication to other inmates and found Winfrey-Woodruff unresponsive to verbal or physical stimuli, Clark said.
EMSA medics, firefighters, Sheriff's Office employees and on-site medical personnel tried to resuscitate her.
The initial investigation indicates that Winfrey-Woodruff had smuggled prescription narcotics into the jail in a body cavity, Clark said. Witnesses told detectives that shortly after Winfrey-Woodruff arrived, she ingested some pills and then concealed the rest within her body.
Based on witness statements, investigators believe that she planned ahead to smuggle the drugs into the jail to use while she was there and to barter with other inmates.
The initial investigation indicated that she overdosed. Her body was taken to the state Medical Examiner's
Office for further examination.
Clark said Winfrey-Woodruff had been searched by detention officers and then was seen by medical personnel for a medical screening during the booking process.
Detention officers check the mouths, eyes and ears of prisoners, but further body-cavity searches are not done without suspicion and a search warrant.
Winfrey-Woodruff's death was the second at the Tulsa Jail this week. Clinton Wade Labor, 27, was found unresponsive in his cell about 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Clark said. He apparently had used bedding to hang himself.
Labor had been in the jail since his arrest by Bixby police Feb. 16, jail records show. He was charged in Tulsa County District Court with two counts of possession of a controlled drug, two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia and endeavoring to manufacture drugs.
On March 12, Damien Tucker, 31, died in the jail after suffering an apparent heart attack, officials said.
Nicole Marshall 581-8459
