The Milwaukee County Jail. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

A man who died at the Milwaukee County Jail earlier this week has been identified as Gabriel Muniz-Jimenez, 33. Records from the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office, obtained by Wisconsin Examiner, show that Muniz-Jimenez was pronounced dead Wednesday at 10:56 p.m. He is the second person to die in the jail so far this year. 

On Thursday, the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) reported that an unidentified 33-year-old man had died after his cellmate reported to correctional officers that the man “appeared to be unconscious and in medical distress,” Urban Milwaukee reported.

The sheriff’s office said that the deceased man had been booked into the jail in November on felony methamphetamine possession. Online court records show that Muniz-Jimenez was charged with methamphetamine possession in April 2024 and the court case was filed in July. 

Booking information online shows that Muniz-Jimenez was booked into the jail in late November on methamphetamine charges. Court records showed that Muniz-Jimenez required a Spanish interpreter in court. 

The sheriff’s office announcement this week said officers attempted lifesaving measures including the use of Narcan, which can reverse an opioid overdose. A demographic report from the Medical Examiner’s Office on Muniz-Jimenez labels the cause as undetermined. MCSO has not responded to a request for comment, and the Waukesha County Sheriffs Department, which is investigating the death, declined to identify who died in the jail. The MCSO is a member of the Milwaukee Area Investigative Team (MAIT), which handles officer-involved deaths such as shootings and in-custody deaths. 

The Milwaukee County Jail has garnered controversy for deaths in recent years. The 2022 suicide of 21-year-old Brieon Green was the first of six in a 14-month period, and families of people who died have allied with activists to call attention to the deaths. In March, 48-year-old Joseph Boivin died at Froedtert Hospital after being found by a nurse in the middle of a health emergency at the jail. A jail audit detected numerous issues, including use of force and what the auditors called “dangerous suicide watch practices.”  

A recent review by the Texas-based auditor Creative Corrections found that the jail has come into full compliance with 71.2% of the proposed corrective actions, with another 28.8% being in partial compliance. The jail still needs to fund two new suicide watch cells. Jail officials are renovating housing areas and have said they are updating suicide watch policies.