The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office determined no charges would be filed in relation to Milwaukee County Jail’s first in-custody death this year.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Shorewood resident Joseph Boivin, 48, died on March 18 due to a head injury after he was transported from the jail to Froedtert Hospital.
In an Oct. 31 statement from the Sheriff’s Office, the county’s District Attorney Kent Lovern said the medical examiner’s office determined the cause of death to be a “brain bleed” caused by a blunt force head injury sustained before Boivin’s arrest on March 15.
Boivin’s manner of death was ruled as accidental.
As the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office cannot legally investigate itself, the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department investigated Boivin’s death and “found no basis for criminal liability on the part of any employee working in the Milwaukee County Jail.”
The Sheriff’s Office said it will conduct an internal review to “ensure all relevant rules and policies were adhered to by jail employees” who had contact with Boivin. If anything is flagged, it will be referred to the Sheriff’s Office’s professional standards division for further investigation.
“While we appreciate that the WCSO investigation concluded that Mr. Boivin’s death was not caused by criminal actions of any MCSO employee, this is not an occasion to celebrate,” Milwaukee County Sheriff Denita Ball said in a statement. “A man died, and we offer our condolences to his loved ones.”
Boivin’s death was the first of three deaths reported this year at the jail. The two other deaths are still being investigated by Waukesha County.
The Sheriff’s Office, which oversees the jail, has often come under fire in recent years, with a series of in-custody deaths taking place at the jail between 2022 and 2023. Those deaths ultimately sparked an internal review and later an independent audit of the jail.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: District Attorney’s Office rules ‘no basis’ for charges tied to Milwaukee County Jail death
Reporting by Vanessa Swales, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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