Richmond jail staff faked safety checks before deaths; one family got $30,000
Steven Carey, 37, died of fentanyl poisoning in January 2023 at the Richmond City Justice Center, one of several in-custody deaths there in 2022-2023. The Virginia Board of Local and Regional Jails cited the jail and placed it under a compliance plan dated November 15, 2023; Prison Legal News reports findings included staff falsifying hourly safety checks and 170 of 385 positions still vacant. Sheriff Antionette Irving, who testified she removed deputies from housing units because of staffing shortages, settled the Carey family's federal suit in 2025 for $30,000, about $5,465 per child after fees. Irving told VPM there have been 13 in-custody deaths since she became sheriff in 2018. She did not respond to VPM's request for comment on the settlement, won the June 2025 Democratic primary for a third term, and the state board voted May 20, 2026 to end the compliance plan.
"We have no idea what was happening behind those walls."
There have been 13 in-custody deaths at the city's jail since Irving became sheriff in 2018, she wrote in an email to VPM News.
Irving won the Democratic primary on Tuesday night.
Motion by Mr. Hackworth, second by Mr. McLaughlin, to discontinue the Richmond City Justice Center compliance plan dated November 15, 2023.
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