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2 Inmates Die At Forsyth County Jail In May

Photo credit: Flickr user Neil Conway for Creative Commons http://bit.ly/2qIvkW4

An inmate who died at the Forsyth County Jail last week was the second to die there during the month of May.

40-year-old Stephen Antwan Patterson was found unresponsive in a Forsyth County Jail cell on May 26. Chief Deputy Brad Stanley says an autopsy didn't reveal any evidence of trauma or foul play.

The Winston-Salem Journal reports the State Bureau of Investigation is looking into Patterson's death.

Patterson's uncle says he had high blood pressure and had requested to be treated and administered his medicine. Court records show Patterson had turned himself in and was being held for failure to pay back child support.

The SBI is also investigating the May 2 death of 39-year-old Deshawn Lamont Coley at the jail. The sheriff's office says he died of a medical condition related to his asthma.

Two lawsuits are pending regarding the medical care provided to inmates at the Forsyth County Jail.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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