Police Improperly Medicated Cleveland Woman Who Died In Prison

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Newly released prison logs indicate that Cleveland Heights police officers gave Ralkina Jones an improper dosage of her medication, which may have contributed to her mysterious death in a prison cell on July 26, according to documents obtained by NBC News on Wednesday.

The official prisoner medication logs indicate that authorities gave Jones the requisite two doses of her medication in one day, but the main jail logs show that she was given her medication three times. Jones was taking several daily medications including ones for epilepsy, anxiety, migraines, blood pressure, and a sedative.

The discrepancy between the logs shows that Jones was improperly medicated, a pharmacologist who reviewed the documents told NBC News, which could have led to negative interactions between the drugs.

In response to this latest evidence in Jones's death, Elizabeth Rothenberg, director of law for the City of Cleveland Heights, said in a statement, "We note that the Medical Log Sheet reflects fewer medications dispensed to Ms. Jones than documented in the Jail Log. This matter is under investigation along with the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's investigation of the cause of Ms. Jones's death."

Jones was arrested after a domestic violence dispute with her husband on July 24. Police discovered her lifeless in her jail cell two days later.

The Cleveland Heights police department released video footage of Jones in jail, in which she tells police about five different medical conditions she was being treated for, including a brain injury, seizures, depression, and ADHD. Jones expresses concern that she would not get her medications while in jail. Police said they brought Jones to a doctor to be evaluated and then transferred her back to her cell, where she later died, according to Cleveland.com

"I'm not asking for any exception to any rules," Jones said in the video. "But I will tell you this, I do not want to die in your cell."

A day after Jones's body was discovered, county officials said that they were opening an investigation into the cause of her death, but an initial autopsy did not find any "suspicious" injuries.

Jones's family said previously that police had provided no explanation for the cause of her death. Regina Samuels, Jones's sister, told Cleveland.com that she had visited Jones in prison the day after she was arrested and she appeared to be fine. "Then the next day they called and said she was dead in jail … they won't tell us nothing," Samuels said.

"You can't just tell me one minute I see my sister and the next day, she dead."