BARTOW, Fla. — Four Polk County Sheriff’s Office deputies resigned in lieu of termination, and three supervisors were suspended without pay following the death of 55-year-old Essie Ward, whose body went unnoticed in her jail cell for up to 24 hours, according to newly released Inmate Death Administrative Investigation records.
Ward died April 3 inside the Polk County Central County Jail. For months, her family waited for answers about how she could have been left unresponsive for so long. The sheriff’s office did not release its internal affairs findings until late November, more than seven months after her death.
A mother lost, family left with questions
Recently, Ward’s children walked through Lincoln Park Cemetery in Lakeland, visiting the graves of relatives. They never imagined their mother would be buried there, too.
“I never knew that would be the last time I’d see her alive,” her daughter, Jameshia Mills, said…