Latest to Die in Portland’s Jails Is a 31-Year-Old Woman With History of Mental Illness

Asia Williams died Thursday morning at Portland’s downtown jail. She was 31 years old.

The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office released her name this afternoon and said it would give no further information about how she died, other than that she was found unresponsive in her cell at 7:30 am. Her court record shows she had long suffered from mental illness, drug addiction and homelessness. She had spent time at the state’s psychiatric hospital, which is so overburdened by Oregon’s lack of alternative treatment options that it has begun releasing patients early.

Portland’s jails have been particularly deadly in recent years. There have been 11 deaths since the beginning of 2022. Officials point to the increasing prevalence of severe mental illness and the smuggling in of powerful street drugs.

Williams latest stint in county lockup began last Tuesday, July 22, when she was arrested on suspicion of being involved in a fire two months earlier at an apartment building downtown, police say. Portland Fire & Rescue identified the building as the The Katherine Gray, an affordable housing apartment building run by Central City Concern.

Williams’ run-ins with police, often the result of poverty or mental illness, go back more than a decade. She has been repeatedly ordered into mental health treatment.

Twice, she was arrested for assaulting security guards after refusing to leave her bed at various hospitals. The second time, in 2020, was at Legacy’s specialized psychiatric facility, Unity.

In a series of letters submitted to the court earlier this year, Williams said her life was on the upswing. Medication had helped, and she was enrolled in a recovery program at Central City Concern.

But she was arrested the next month walking out of Target with bags full of unpaid merchandise, and was eventually held in jail after the apartment fire. Her court-appointed lawyer did not return WW’s call.