State: Cuyahoga County Jail Staff Failed to Provide First Aid Training | The Marshall Project
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Updated<br>4:15 p.m. EDT
07.14.2026
Cleveland
State Reverses Course, Finds Cuyahoga Jail Staff Failed to Start CPR in Wade’s Death
State inspectors said jail staff failed to provide CPR to Jennifer Wade after finding her unresponsive in her cell in February 2025.
The family of Jennifer Wade protested outside the Cuyahoga County jail in April. Wade died at the jail in 2025 after being left on the floor of a locked cell. Akron attorney Alex Bodiford, at left, is representing the family in a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against the county.<br>Doug Livingston/The Marshall Project
By Doug Livingston, Brittany Hailer and Mark Puente
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Correctional staff failed to start CPR the moment they discovered Jennifer Wade lifeless in her Cuyahoga County jail cell last year, state inspectors concluded in a review of the 41-year-old mother’s death.
It was the second such review. In the months after Wade’s death in February 2025, inspectors found that the jail staff acted appropriately. But they reopened their review after The Marshall Project - Cleveland reported on video evidence the county did not turn over to inspectors.
The officer-worn body camera videos showed that corrections staff admitted to leaving Wade alone on the concrete floor of her cell for hours before calling a nurse. A county report said employees believed she may have been pretending to be unconscious. Even after calling the nurse, more than 20 minutes elapsed before anyone began CPR.
In the state’s second review — which the county received earlier this month — inspectors concluded that correctional staff, which include MetroHealth nurses contracted by the county, had failed to start CPR immediately after determining that Wade was not breathing and that her heart had stopped.
The inspection also found that only three of the 12 county-employed corrections officers who responded were CPR trained, though the county later provided the state records showing that all 12 had completed CPR training through the American Red Cross. Still, none of the officers began chest compressions or assisted breathing.
Whether jail staff, even those trained to save lives, are required to act is unclear, with the language in the employee manual indicating officers should rely on their training but not explicitly saying they should start CPR. However, as part of their review, the inspectors required that the county submit a plan to improve its emergency response.
A copy of that plan shared Tuesday with The Marshall Project - Cleveland shows that the county intends to better train staff and conduct drills to simulate medical emergencies, each a solution the county and state have agreed to after previous deaths. Staff should also be reminded of their responsibilities and immediately activate emergency alarms.
The state has not yet approved the improvement plan.
After our initial reporting in April about the previously undisclosed video footage prompted the latest state review, county leaders created a new policy in June requiring employees of the sheriff’s office, including corrections officers, to give CPR and first aid when safe to do so, but only outside the jail.
Jenn Truxall, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Adult Detention, the state agency that oversees standards and inspects locally run jails, said basic CPR training required of all jail employees spells out that certified-staff should call for medical assistance and render aid after securing the scene.
Adam Chaloupka, general counsel for the Ohio Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, which represents the jail's corrections officers, has told The Marshall Project - Cleveland multiple times that correctional officers are trained to call for the jail’s medical workers and then wait for help.
County officials did not respond to detailed questions about the state’s new findings. Joseph Nanni, the Cuyahoga County Council’s chief of staff, said he was not aware of any council person or council staff being told about the latest failure to provide help in the jail.
Wade’s was the third death in a little more than a year in which corrections officers failed to start chest compressions despite having been certified through the American Red Cross to...