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Lawsuit against Shelby County jail warden dismissed over stabbing inmate

Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner and Jail Warden Kirk Fields, two high-ranking officials who oversee the Shelby County Jail at 201 Poplar, have been fired from a civil lawsuit filed by the family of an inmate who was stabbed to death in a courtroom detention room.

Although the two co-defendants were dismissed from the case on August 13, the case remains active because Shelby County, as an administrative entity, was also sued and did not file a motion to dismiss the case.

The lawsuit was filed in January, about three months after inmate Deion Byrd was stabbed in the neck by another inmate at 201 Poplar Prison.

Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, Bonner and Fields argued that the case against them should be dismissed. In their motion, they cited four reasons.

“First, the complaints do not contain specific allegations about how the defendants personally participated in the deprivation of Byrd's rights,” the ruling states. “Second, with respect to the supervisory liability claims, the plaintiffs do not allege that the defendants 'encouraged or otherwise directly participated in the specific misconduct.' Third, with respect to the willful indifference claims, the plaintiffs do not allege specific facts demonstrating that the defendants were willfully indifferent to the conditions and risks to which Byrd was exposed. Fourth, because the plaintiffs do not specifically show what conduct was unconstitutional and what clearly established right was violated, the defendants are entitled to qualified immunity.”

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Judge Samuel H. Mays Jr. found in his ruling that lawyers for Byrd's family “have not plausibly alleged that Bonner violated Byrd's 14th Amendment rights by failing to protect him from violence among inmates.” In support of that conclusion, Mays said the lawsuit does not allege that any of Bonner's employees acted unconstitutionally and that Bonner knew about or condoned that conduct.

The judge used similar reasoning to explain why the lawsuits against Fields were dismissed.

The general claim that Bonner and Fields knew about the “dangerous conditions” in the prison and that the two officers did nothing to stop them did not affect the judge's opinion on the willful indifference charges. In dismissing those charges against Bonner and Fields, the judge found that Bonner and Fields made “no willful decisions about Byrd's relevant conditions of confinement.”

The claims brought against Bonner and Fields in their individual capacities were dismissed according to the judgment because they did not constitute a “personal involvement” and “are more appropriately classified as claims against the defendants in their official capacities and thus as claims arising from municipal liability.”

Since the other lawsuits were dismissed, the judge does not have to decide whether limited immunity applies in this case, the decision states.

Bonner and Fields had also filed a motion to stay proceedings while awaiting a decision on the motion to dismiss. That motion was denied as moot because it was no longer necessary since Bonner and Fields had been dismissed from the case.

Although it was one of several ongoing lawsuits against the Shelby County Jail and Bonner as deputy, this was the first case to have a major motion decided. Byrd's family had hired well-known civil rights attorney Ben Crump just days after his murder.

What happened to Deion Byrd in prison?

Byrd was scheduled to appear in Shelby County Criminal Court in Department 1 on the morning of October 26, 2023. He was in custody at the time and had to be released from jail.

He was one of several Shelby County Jail inmates who were transported to Department 1 of Criminal Court around 9:20 a.m. for separate court appearances. However, Byrd was escorted into the courtroom from a separate courtroom, which is typically done when the elevator to the waiting area is out of order.

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Byrd was led through the public waiting area of ​​201 Poplar Criminal Court along with several other inmates.

A few minutes after the inmates were brought into the prison area, a Commercial Appeal reporter who had been in the courtroom that morning could hear shouting, followed by a line of bailiffs rushing into the courtroom.

The stabbed man, later identified as Byrd, was eventually led out with his hand over his throat and mouth. It was unclear where exactly he had been stabbed. He was taken to Regional One Health and eventually died there.

Minutes later, another man was dragged from the waiting area, screaming at bailiffs as they led him away. This man was later identified as Donnie Clay and has since been charged with first-degree murder.

“Witnesses stated that Deion Byrd approached the cell door and accused Donnie Clay of breaking into his home,” the affidavit attached to Clay's indictment states. “Clay denied the accusation and Deion Byrd spat in Clay's face. Clay said, 'I'm going to kill you now,' pulled a sharp piece of metal from his waistband and chased Byrd into a nearby interrogation room just feet away.”

Clay then stabbed Byrd in the neck “at least once” with the improvised knife. Byrd then ran out of the interview room and reached the courtroom door as a deputy entered the area, the affidavit states. Clay threw the knife on the ground.

When the deputy saw Byrd bleeding from his neck, Clay got on his knees and put his hands behind his head, according to the affidavit.

“The improvised knife was found on the hallway floor,” the affidavit states. “There was a lot of blood on the floor in the interview room, as well as in the hallway between the interview room and the holding cell.”

Four days after the fatal stabbing, Bonner said there would be an investigation into the “internal failures” that led to Byrd's stabbing. It is still unclear how Clay got the improvised knife from the jail to the courtroom.

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