Massachusetts public defenders are turning up the heat on state leaders over the December in-custody death of 32-year-old Shacoby Kenny at the Suffolk County House of Correction, better known as South Bay. Yesterday, they formally urged the attorney general to bring in an outside investigator, arguing that local officials cannot credibly police their own and that the public is being kept in the dark months after Kenny died following a confrontation with corrections officers.
What the public defenders asked
Anthony J. Benedetti, chief counsel for the Committee for Public Counsel Services, sent a letter to Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell urging her office to “ensure the appointment of an independent investigative body” to review Kenny’s death and avoid what he described as conflicts of interest with existing probes. According to The Boston Globe, Benedetti raised alarms that some pretrial detainees who may have vital information have already been interviewed without lawyers present, while officers involved in the incident have not been removed from duty, fueling fears of potential witness intimidation inside the jail.
What authorities say happened
The Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office has said that on the night of Dec. 7, Kenny became “erratic,” assaulted custody staff, and was restrained, after which he became unresponsive. He was transported to a hospital and pronounced dead the following morning. Boston police and the Suffolk district attorney’s office are reviewing the case alongside the sheriff’s own internal investigation, according to Boston.com.
Video and inmate accounts
Incarcerated witnesses have painted a much more brutal picture of that night. Several told reporters that the confrontation turned into a violent pile-on, with officers punching Kenny and kneeling on him during a chaotic struggle. Reporting has also described internal surveillance footage that shows officers pursuing Kenny and a cluster of staff surrounding him, images that have become central to demands that the video be released publicly and that an outside agency take over the investigation, per The Boston Globe.
Community reaction and calls for transparency
Protesters, family members of people who have died behind bars, and advocacy groups have rallied repeatedly since Kenny’s death, demanding answers and broader oversight of South Bay. They argue that his death fits a disturbing pattern of in-custody fatalities and reflects long-standing worries about how the jail treats people with mental-health needs. Organizers and legal advocates say those concerns are exactly why an outside review is needed, according to GBH News.
Why it matters now
The CPCS letter lands at a politically fraught moment for the Suffolk County sheriff’s office. The agency is already under intense scrutiny following unrelated federal allegations against Sheriff Steven Tompkins, a backdrop that has amplified questions about whether his office should have any lead role in an inquiry into Kenny’s death. Those earlier controversies have further eroded public confidence in internal investigations and made demands for an independent probe harder for officials to brush aside, per reporting by indicted on extortion charges.
What’s next
The attorney general’s office has confirmed it received the CPCS letter, and the Suffolk district attorney’s office says it is participating in the ongoing review while investigators await findings from the medical examiner and continue gathering evidence. So far, no criminal charges directly tied to Kenny’s death have been announced. Officials say they expect to release more information once the investigation wraps up, according to reporting from WCVB.
