Three inmates died at Garner Correctional Institution within the space of a month last summer. On July 10, Eric Meagan was found in his cell with a ligature around his neck. On July 19, Ronald Johnson was found unresponsive in his cell. Two days later, Tyler Cole was also found unresponsive in his cell.

Shortly after Johnson and Cole’s deaths became public, with the Department of Corrections (DOC) keeping mum about the cause of death amid multiple ongoing investigations, Inside Investigator filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for Connecticut State Police (CSP) investigative reports on August 2, 2024.

In the fall, DOC announced both deaths were the result of overdoses. In November, DOC announced Cole’s death was the result of accidental acute intoxication due to the combination of clonazepam, diphenhydramine, methadone, and anti-psychosis drug Olanzapine. They also announced Johnson’s death was the result of accidental acute intoxication due to the combination of methadone, Olanzapine, and Quetiapine, which is used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Again, DOC declined to provide additional details about how Cole and Johnson overdosed, citing multiple ongoing investigations. According to the inspector general’s website, that office’s investigation into the deaths is still ongoing.

Earlier this month, DESPP finally fulfilled my FOIA requests for CSP reports investigating Cole and Johnson’s deaths. Though I waited over a year to receive those reports, they provide little additional information. Of the 104-page report DESPP turned over on CSP’s investigation into Cole’s death, 65 pages are redacted entirely. Other pages are partially redacted.

The only documents provided in full are statements from state troopers working shifts at Garner in the 24-hour period before Cole’s death was discovered. They all report randomly carrying out checks of inmates every fifteen minutes to ensure they were still breathing and finding nothing wrong. According to the report, Cole’s cellmate reported finding him unresponsive in his cell.

A copy of Cole’s autopsy was redacted entirely because of a state statute that allows for public access only if they are directly requested from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. DESPP also redacted incident and medical reports from Garner CI, inmate overview sheets for Cole and his cellmate, teletypes, and an inmate roster in their entirety.

In total, DESPP cited four different FOIA exemptions, including for investigatory techniques not known to the general public, personnel or medical files that would invade personal privacy if released, logs that contain information on the movement of inmates and staff in prisons, and an exemption that prevents the disclosure of images of deceased victims.

They also cited an additional 4 statutes that prohibit the release of information, including for the release of Department of Motor Vehicle Records and a compact between states and the federal government that allows for information sharing between agencies.

The report on Johnson’s death is much the same. Of the 115-page report, 82 pages are entirely redacted and other pages containing images are partially redacted. DESPP claimed the same exemptions, with the addition of four pages that were redacted for containing preliminary notes or drafts. That exemption only applies when there is a greater public interest in withholding information than disclosing it. Agencies are required to explain to requesters why there’s an interest in withholding information, which DESPP did not do. When challenged, the agency referred me to the General Statutes.

Unlike CSP’s report on Cole, there are no unredacted statements from either troopers or Garner correctional officers prior to the discovery of Johnson’s death. Without them, the report provides even less information that helps understand how Johnson’s death occurred.

The unredacted portion of the report contains snippets of what CSP was told by DOC employees working at Garner. According to the summary, a corrections employee entered Johnson’s cell and found him in medical distress in his bunk. Further, the report notes that half of a white pill fell from Johnson’s bunk onto the floor while CPR was being performed. The medication was reportedly cariprazine, for which Johnson did not have a prescription.

CSP also found an inmate request form in Johnson’s shirt pocket that stated he believed he was having an allergic reaction to methadone because his feet were swelling. The report states it “did not appear to be officially signed off on by a medical professional.” Though the report indicates that a note was attached, DESPP redacted it, citing a FOIA exemption that allows law enforcement to withhold records of victims of crime or an accident if “disclosure could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of the personal privacy of the victim.”

DESPP used the same exemption to redact images that investigators took of both Cole and Johnson’s bodies before they were removed from their cells. I have no argument with that, but it’s hard to see how a note that, by the report’s own admission, contained no actual medical information, fits the same definition of being exempt. Inmate request forms are FOIA-able.

The report further notes that cameras in the facility were angled so that Johnson’s cell was not visible. A handheld camera used by Garner staff only captured the medical response after Johnson was reported unresponsive.

In short, the reports do nothing for those looking for answers about how Cole and Johnson overdosed while in DOC and while reportedly being routinely monitored. The few accounts that were not redacted effectively say the agency was following procedures and DOC officials saw nothing. If the answers to questions DOC officials refused to answer while waiting for the investigations to conclude are in there, they’re buried in redactions.

A huge amount of FOIA’s utility is the power it gives the public to dig into what’s going on behind the scenes at public agencies. Too often, when deaths in custody occur, efforts to use FOIA for that purpose are stymied, either by long wait times for documents or aggressive redactions, leaving those with questions with nowhere to turn .

And that’s certainly the case here. Inside Investigator has run into numerous issues with obtaining information from the DOC and received numerous tips about potential wrongdoing. We look to FOIA as a tool to help us obtain more information and investigate further, but when documents are turned over 60% redacted, we more frequently end up frustrated.

Republish This Story

Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.