SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The official cause of death for K Street shoutout suspect Smiley Martin is a methadone overdose. He died while at the Sacramento County jail on June 8.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, methadone is a medication used to treat opioid addiction. It’s a treatment that’s only been used at the jail over the last five years.
Sacramento County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Sgt. Amar Gandhi showed ABC10 the male detox floor.
“It’s all through adult correctional health; they have to be evaluated, seen by medical staff, prescribed by a doctor and then from there, they are issued that treatment,” Gandhi said.
According to the sheriff’s office, Martin was found unconscious in his cell. Ghandi said an inmate does not have to be on the detox floor to receive methadone.
“That’s something they can take within their normal housing unit, but again, the administration of that medication is a supposed to be a little more intensive because it takes some time for that dissolving strip to dissolve. It has to be observed by medical staff, verified it has in fact dissolved and then return back to their cell,” Gandhi said.
Sgt. Gandhi and Smiley Martin’s public defender, Norman Dawson, could not confirm if Martin was in the detox program because of HIPAA rules.
The sheriff’s office said it's still under investigation how Martin accessed the methadone.
Methadone is a narcotic, and Sgt. Gandhi said there is a market for narcotics in the jail.
“We have caught inmates, the slang term is 'cheeking pills.' There are measures in place, but these guys are creative and there is a market for it. Any drug on the street has a value of ten times that in here,” Gandhi said.
Martin’s former attorney told ABC10 he has been in contact with Martin’s family, who has a lot of questions about how he died in custody.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said they are waiting for the investigation to be completed before releasing any more details. ABC10 reached out to Correctional Health Services in charge of jail medical, they said they are working on answers the inquiry.
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