A Denver jail inmate was wanted on two warrants for allegedly failing to comply with court orders in two 2013 felony convictions.
Jacqueline Kirby, spokeswoman for the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, said the warrants were issued in 2013. Records show Thomas Howard was sentenced to probation terms in both cases.
Kirby said Tuesday she did not have details on the warrants.
Howard, 30, was pronounced dead about 1:30 a.m. Sunday, three days after being booked into the Denver Sheriff Department facility. Authorities are calling his death a suicide.
The sheriff’s department says Howard was found on Christmas Day by a deputy doing rounds.
“Medical personnel responded, and he was transported to Denver Health, where he died two days later,” the sheriff’s department said in a news release.
Simon Crittle, spokesman for the sheriff’s office, said the death is under investigation, per standard protocol. Crittle said deputies in the pod where Howard was being held check on inmates twice an hour.
Colorado Bureau of Investigation records show Howard was arrested for the warrants Dec. 23 by Denver police.
Howard’s suicide comes as city officials are working to reform practices at Denver’s two jails and in the wake of the , who is tasked with fixing the embattled department.
Firman’s first big test as head of the department came in November when 50-year-old inmate Michael Marshall died after an undisclosed .
Marshall’s death by Denver police.
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or @JesseAPaul
