MANSFIELD — A 32-year-old female inmate died Sunday morning after a “medical emergency” in the Richland County Jail, according to a press release from Sheriff Steve Sheldon.
Candice Crose of Mansfield was pronounced dead at OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital at 9:52 a.m., according to Bob Ball, the chief investigator for the Richland County Coroner’s Office.
She was sentenced April 11 to one year in prison at the Ohio Reformatory for Women at Marysville on a felony escape conviction, according to Richland County Common Pleas Court records.
Capt. Chris Blunk, the jail administrator, said the jail had been waiting for a written order from the court to transfer Crose.
He said Crose had been in the county jail since Feb. 5.
He said once that order, which was issued Monday according to online court records, had been received that the jail would have contacted the state prison to make arrangements before transporting her to Marysville.
Ball said Crose’s body will be taken to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office on Tuesday morning.
The sheriff’s press release, issued Monday at 1:05 p.m., said jail corrections staff and medical personnel responded to the 3C11 housing unit around 9 a.m. for a “medical emergency” involving Crose.
“Life-saving measures were performed by the staff but unfortunately Crose died at the hospital shortly after arriving,” according to the press release.
“As is custom practice, an investigation is ongoing,” the release said.
Blunk told Richland Source on Monday afternoon that fellow inmates summoned corrections officers on Sunday morning.
“They noticed something was not right with her,” he said, “with the way she was laying on her mattress.”
He said Crose had been incarcerated in the county jail 20 times, dating back to 2009.
Her mother, Sheila Lambert, started a GoFundMe campaign to organize a memorial service.
“We are trying to raise money to give her a beautiful service and give her friends and family and children a chance to say goodbye and acknowledge all the life Candi brought to all of us,” Lambert said in creating the fundraiser.