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Portsmouth — Are Portsmouth police treating the death of a Hampton Roads Regional Jail inmate as a possible murder?
Two people with knowledge of the jail’s inner workings — who spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not want to get workers there in trouble — say one of the four deaths there last month is being investigated as a homicide.
But police and the beleaguered jail’s new superintendent won’t say.
Portsmouth’s police spokeswoman, Victoria Varnedoe, declined to say whether detectives are treating the case as a murder.
“I can confirm that the Portsmouth Police Department is investigating the Feb. 19 incident and that the investigation is ongoing. We don’t have any further information to release at this time and will have to refer you to the Hampton Roads Regional Jail for any other questions you may have,” she wrote in an emailed response Monday.
The regional jail is by far the deadliest jail in the state and one of the deadliest in the nation. From 2008 through 2020 a total of 49 of its inmates died, according to a national examination of deaths in the country’s largest jails by Reuters. The second highest tally in Virginia was 34.
The jail is under continued scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Justice and the federal courts following a 2018 DOJ report that found conditions there violated the Constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment and the Americans with Disabilities Act. It is also facing a severe staffing shortage and has a new superintendent, its seventh in four years.
Shortly after the Feb. 19 death, Portsmouth police confirmed they had begun investigating, which is standard when an inmate dies at the regional facility, located within the city. Police did not identify the inmate or provide information about how the person died.
The first of this month’s deaths happened Feb. 4, when Keith Andre Robinson collapsed in the jail’s kitchen and died about an hour later. Later that day, William Felton, 74, died at Maryview Medical Center. He had been in end-of-life care for several months.
Just over two weeks later, an inmate later identified as 55-year-old Thomas Fludd died inside the jail Feb. 19. Another inmate died three days later. In a press release, the jail said the man who died Feb. 22, Michael Antonio Goode, had underlying health conditions.
In response to a list of emailed questions, Col. Jeff Vergakis, interim superintendent of the Hampton Roads Regional Jail, told The Virginian-Pilot on Feb. 20 that he was unable to answer them. On Feb. 22 he said he did not have additional information to release.
On Monday Lt. Col. William J. Anderson, an assistant superintendent, said no charges had been filed in Fludd’s death.
While there have been violent deaths at the jail before, many of the inmates who died there had serious health conditions, a reflection of its longstanding status as a dumping ground for the sickest people in the region’s jails. Members of the board that oversees the jail — who are sheriffs, city managers and council members from the five member cities — have fought against changes for years. Hiring more staff at the regional jail would cost the member cities money.
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The jail is under a federal consent decree, which requires a court-appointed monitor to oversee how it’s run. It is the only jail to be placed under such scrutiny during the Trump administration. The facility has to reduce its use of solitary confinement for inmates with serious mental illness and hire more security, medical and mental health staff, among a slew of required changes.
But those changes appear to be hampered by a severe staffing shortage at the facility. As The Virginian-Pilot reported in December, more than a third of jail officer positions are vacant. As part of the consent decree, a court-appointed monitor visited the facility late last year to make a “baseline report,” which is filed in federal court. The monitor said it was “critical” for the jail to fix the staffing shortage within the coming months.
To alleviate the problem until staffing levels increase, the jail’s board voted in November to move about 255 inmates — about 30% of the facility’s population — back to the city jails from which they came.
The move was intended to be temporary, but it’s unclear when the regional jail will be able to take those inmates back. More than 100 jail officer positions are unfilled now — up from about 90 vacancies in mid-December, according to figures shared with the Hampton Road Regional Jail’s board at a February meeting.
In December, five current and former officers told The Pilot officers were sometimes left manning multiple housing pods at once because of low staffing. They said that put them at risk and also meant they were also unable to check on inmates as often as they’re supposed to.
Margaret Matray, 757-222-5216, margaret.matray@pilotonline.com
Gary Harki, 757-446-2370, gary.harki@pilotonline.com