A 43-year-old woman being held at Shelby County's Jail East died Saturday afternoon after corrections deputies found her unresponsive in her cell, according to the Shelby County Sheriff's Office. Beverly Turnage was pronounced dead at Baptist East Hospital at 3:37 p.m., after Memphis corrections deputies began lifesaving measures at approximately 2:50 p.m. at Jail East.
According to FOX13 Memphis, paramedics transported Turnage to Baptist East Hospital in critical condition after finding her unresponsive in her cell at Jail East. The Sheriff's Office says it is investigating her death, though no further details about her medical history or the circumstances leading up to the emergency have been released.
Jail East, located on Haley Road in East Memphis, opened in 1999 as Shelby County's primary women's detention facility and holds a state-certified capacity of 384 inmates, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The facility houses female pretrial detainees as well as juvenile males who have been remanded to adult court.
A Death Amid a Chaotic Medical Contract Handoff
That has left county commissioners scrambling to line up a replacement before Wellpath's exit. Wellpath, the private contractor that has run medical services inside county correctional facilities, notified state labor officials in August that it will end its jail medical operations and lay off 119 workers effective September 30, as reported by localmemphis.com.
That has left county commissioners scrambling to line up a replacement before Wellpath's exit. Action News 5 reports that in September the Shelby County Commission was evaluating a proposed $37 million to $40 million annual contract with Wexford Health to take over the work — an estimated $10 million annual increase over current costs, with officials facing a tight deadline to finalize a vendor before the current contract lapses.
Hoodline previously reported that Wellpath's exit follows a federal wrongful death lawsuit filed in July by the family of a deceased inmate, which alleged staff failed to administer adequate medical intervention during a severe mental health crisis in custody and highlighted failures in post-restraint medical evaluations.
A Pattern of In-Custody Deaths in Shelby County
Turnage's death adds to what has become a persistent pattern of fatalities inside Shelby County's jail system. The Sheriff's Office recorded in-custody deaths in 2025 across its facilities, according to Action News 5. Advocacy group Just City has said in a Facebook post that 68 people have died in Shelby County Jail custody since 2018, noting that the vast majority were awaiting trial and had not been convicted of a crime.
The facility has also been covered in local reporting.
Overcrowding has been identified as a systemic strain on the county's jail operations.
Federal Oversight and Reporting Requirements
The U.S. Department of Justice's findings letter describes constitutional deficiencies and references court proceedings involving Shelby County's jails.
It remains unclear whether the TBI will take on independent oversight of the investigation into Turnage's death, and the Sheriff's Office has not said whether her death involved any delay in cell checks or medical response.
Hoodline has previously covered deaths in the jail in 2025, as well as security incidents at Jail East. The Shelby County Sheriff's Office has not released additional details about Turnage's medical history or the timeline of events preceding her death.
