Skip to main content
Two inmates who died in Multnomah County jails this year overdosed on fentanyl, according to autopsy reports newly obtained by WW.
“Fentanyl toxicity” was the “immediate cause” of death for both Josiah Pierce, 31, and Clemente Pineda, 36. Both deaths were accidental, the medical examiner determined.
The reports offer additional insight into how an unprecedented seven people died in Multnomah County custody over the last year. They confirm what has long been expected.
Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell has previously said multiple deaths were drug-related, and has instituted new policies to limit the influx of fentanyl into the jail. WW has previously reported that a third inmate had consumed fentanyl prior to his death.
There is evidence Pierce consumed fentanyl while in county custody. Deputies searched his cell and found a “clear long cylinder tube” as well as “a rubber glove atop a metal shelving unit, which inside contained a white powdery substance consistent with fentanyl,” according to the autopsy report.
There were other signs, too. The day prior, he’d been sent to the emergency room “after an unwitnessed ingestion of an unknown substance by jail staff” but was discharged after he declined to provide a urine sample.
Pineda arrived at Multnomah County already in medical distress. On July 28, he was transferred from Columbia County Jail where he’d already spent a year. He spent the next two days vomiting, and by Aug. 1 was complaining of “worsening symptoms.”
He appears to have been suffering from withdrawals. Medical staff requested “suboxone, currently on standard protocol for fentanyl,” according to records reviewed by the medical examiner. Suboxone is a medication used to treat opioid withdrawal and lessen cravings.
As WW has previously reported, Pineda was facedown and unresponsive for hours before his death, according to a corrections deputy doing rounds at the time. Pineda wasn’t provided medical treatment at the time, the deputy said.
The autopsy report fills in what happened next. Another inmate walking by saw Pineda unresponsive in a position “similar to a child’s pose in yoga.” The inmate called out to deputies, who moved Pineda into the hallway and attempted, unsuccessfully, to save his life.
The county has now released to WW autopsy reports for nine of the 10 people who died in Multnomah County jails in the last two years. The only missing report is for Tera Harris, 51, who died in October.
Here’s what the medical examiner determined was the manner of death:
Clemente Pineda Accident (Used fentanyl)
Josiah Pierce Accident (Used fentanyl)
Kashi Abram Harmon Suicide
Martin Todd Franklin Suicide
Allen George Walker Natural
Donovan Anthony Wood Suicide
Kenneth L. Hurley Natural
Stephen Murphy Natural
Jess Rivas-Castillo Accident (Cocaine overdose)