DETROIT (WXYZ) — The Wayne County jail inmate accused of murdering his cellmate had a lengthy history of mental illness and violence, according to court and police records, but was not placed on a floor for mentally ill inmates that would have included greater supervision.
Sources also confirm to 7 Action News that around the same time the attack took place on July 13th, a Wayne County deputy assigned to the floor missed at least one of his hourly security rounds, leaving the cells unsupervised.
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In the 15 days since Thomas Carr was brutally attacked, his family says they have learned more about what went wrong from reporters than from law enforcement.
“Nobody’s contacting us or giving us any information,” said Ellen Ogden, Carr’s sister. “It’s like we’ve been dismissed.”
Claude Lewis III came to the Wayne County jail earlier this month after being arrested for domestic violence.
In a 911 call, his girlfriend told police dispatch that Lewis had “attacked me in front of my house,” punching her in the face and ripping off her shirt.
“I also have called on him,” she told 911. “He’s shanked me before. I have a (personal protection order) order out on him. Everything.”
According to court records, Lewis had been previously convicted of assault and Romulus police said he had been accused of domestic violence before.
But despite a history of violence, the Wayne County Jail paired Lewis with a non-violent inmate.
There were other warning signs that appear to have been missed. Shortly after Lewis’s girlfriend called 911 on July 10, he did too.
Lewis disclosed a history of mental illness.
“I’m going to let you know that I am labeled as schizophrenic, bipolar,” he said, “So the reason why I’m calling is so she can’t get me locked up in jail. I’d rather just go to the psych ward and get assistance.”
Lewis's history of mental illness iseasy to find, if you know where to look. His probate file in Washtenaw County tells the chilling story of repeated attempts to get the 28-year-old help.
In September 2021, records say, he was court ordered for psychiatric treatment “after threatening to kill his girlfriend and her family”.
Lewis believed “they were poisoning his food” and accused his mother "of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from him.” Doctors said he suffered from schizophrenia and was ”paranoid...impulsive and unpredictable.”
Lewis was involuntarily committed to Stonecrest psychiatric hospital in 2021, and records show he had been hospitalized in 2020 and 2019 as well.
But Lewis would not take medication after being discharged, according to probate records, telling doctors he “does not believe in his psychiatric diagnosis and does not need medication.”
“If somebody had done their due diligence, and found this information, this could have been prevented,” said Ellen Ogden, Carr’s sister.
But tonight, there is no indication that the Wayne County jail was aware of Lewis’s documented history of severe mental illness.
We do not know the results of his mental health assessment from medical staff inside the jail, but know he was not placed on the county’s mental health floor, which would have led to closer monitoring by guards.
“I mean, it was like a freight train coming at you,” Ogden said. “There’s no other analogy you can think of.”
Lewis's attorney, Rita Soka, said her client is currently undergoing a mental evaluation to determine if he is fit to stand trial.
In a court hearing earlier this week, she said he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had been discharged from a psychiatriac hospital two weeks before his arrest.
There are signs of others significant failures inside the jail from that day. As 7 Action News told you last week, the jail has struggled with understaffing for years. In 2021, the jail went from 5 guards on each floor to 3.
The afternoon Thomas Carr was attacked, sources tell us that the guard assigned to his cell missed at least one of his hourly rounds.
Carr and Lewis’s cell is believed to have been unsupervised for between one and two hours—the same time the attack happened.
“I do fault the person who runs the jail, who doesn’t have enough staff,” said Carr’s sister Virginia Adkins. “But there was a person who should have been there for my brother, should have been.”
“I believe if somebody had been there...he could still be alive.”
Citing an ongoing criminal and internal investigation, a spokesman for Wayne County Sheriff Raphael Washington declined to comment on Lewis’s history of mental illness and news of a deputy’s missed security round.
In a statement, spokesman Ed Foxworth said, in part: “As part of this investigation, Sheriff Raphael Washington is balancing jail security, the safety of our officers, as well as our inmates, as he monitors the internal investigation. Upon completion of the investigation, the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office will take the necessary actions to address any concerns regarding how its policies and procedures were implemented.”
Contact 7 Investigator Ross Jones at ross.jones@wxyz.com or at (248) 827-9466.