PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Editor's note: The video above is from March 17, 2021.
An inmate is charged with murder in the death of another inmate at Hampton Roads Regional Jail, according to officials.
Shamsiddin Muhammad Abdullah is charged with first-degree murder of inmate Thomas Fludd, Interim Superintendent Col. Jeff Vergakis said in a news release.
Fludd was found unresponsive on Feb. 19. Medical staff and Portsmouth EMS tried to revive him but later declared him dead.
Porstmouth police filed the official charge against Abdullah.
In February, the jail reports four inmates died – three at the jail (including Fludd) and one at a Portsmouth hospital.
More than 25 inmates have died at the jail since 2015.
The Hampton Roads Regional Jail lost its accreditation from the American Correctional Association earlier this month. The ACA cited "continuous deaths of incarcerated individuals," the DOJ consent decree, and an ACA audit and monitoring visit of the jail, among other factors.
In August, the HRRJ and the Department of Justice announced a consent decree agreement to change the jail’s treatment of inmates - the product of a multi-year investigation into inmate deaths at the jail.
The investigation continues, Vergakis said.