Second jail death this year

NEWPORT — Brett Randall Dison, 61, died in Pend Oreille County Jail Thursday, Aug. 28, according to Pend Oreille County Sheriff Glenn Blakeslee. Dison is the second person to die in the Pend Oreille County jail this year and the fourth in the last three years.

According to jail records, Dison was arrested Tuesday, Aug. 26, charged with unlawful possession of a firearm.

Blakeslee said his death is being investigated by the Newport Police Department.

According to a news release from Newport Police Chief Wade Nelson, at about 11:42 a.m. Thursday, the Newport Police Department was dispatched to a medical incident in the Pend Oreille County Jail.

“A 61‐year‐old male inmate was discovered unresponsive and not breathing by Jail Deputies,” the news release read. “Despite life saving measures by corrections staff and medical staff, the male was pronounced deceased. The Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office was notified and responded to the scene and took jurisdiction of the decedent. The Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office will be determining the cause and manner of the death.”

In late January this year, Krisstarah Tianna Bennett, 33, died of a suspected drug overdose in jail. Another inmate, Natalie J. Lemery, 32, of Spokane was charged with introducing a controlled substance into a jail facility and controlled substance homicide in connection with Bennett’s death.

In 2023, Jacob Mitchell, a man who killed his mother, died from complications of diabetes in the jail. A $3 million civil rights lawsuit was filed against the county and individual jailers, named and unnamed, over Mitchell’s death. That lawsuit has not yet been settled.

In 2022 Franz Kroll, in jail for murdering his wife, hung himself in the jail.

Washington law requires an Unexpected Fatality Review be conducted and submitted to the state Department of Health for in-custody deaths within 120 days of the death.

The lack of jail staff was a contributing factor to two of the deaths that have occurred in the jail, according to Unexpected Fatality Reviews filed with the state Department of Health and published on the DOH website at www.doh.wa.gov/you-and-your-family/ injury-and-violence-prevention/unexpected-fatality- jail-reviews#viewUFR. The reviews of Kroll’s and Mitchell’s deaths mentioned shortage of staff, among other factors.

A third-party agency is working on an Unexpected Fatality Review for Bennett’s death but has yet to submit it to DOH, Blakeslee said.