Thursday morning, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation identified the inmate mate who was discovered deceased at the Barton County Jail Sunday morning.

Melissa Underwood, Communications Director with the KBI, identified the inmate as 46-year-old Scott Deines. Deines was most recently booked into the Barton County Jail July 16 on a Barton County District Court warrant for failure to appear, with no bond set for the warrant.

Underwood said the autopsy for Deines remained pending, and a cause of death has yet to be determined.

Per Kansas state statute and Barton County Sheriff’s Office policy, the KBI was brought in to investigate after an inmate, now identified as Deines, was found unresponsive in his cell by jail detention officers shortly after 11 a.m. July 25.

At that time, officers called Great Bend Fire Department EMS, who determined Deines was deceased. 

The Barton County Coroner’s Office and the KBI were subsequently notified, per state statute, which reads:

“19-1935. Death of prisoner in custody of city or county; investigation by Kansas bureau of investigation. On and after July 1, 2004, whenever the death of a prisoner in the custody of a city or county and residing in jail or in a facility contracted through the city or county, or both, occurs, an investigation regarding the circumstances of the death shall be initiated by the Kansas bureau of investigation. A report of the findings of the investigation shall be made available to the chairperson of the senate judiciary committee and the house corrections and juvenile justice committee of the Kansas legislature and shall be subject to the open records act, K.S.A. 45-215, and amendments thereto. No such investigation by the Kansas bureau of investigation shall be required if the cause of death is determined to be natural, by a qualified autopsy, preliminary autopsy report or death certificate or the prisoner was regularly attended by a licensed physician.”