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Doj approaches the second anniversary of Eau Claire Jail Death and has not published a report

February 27, 2025

Silver O. Jenkins, 29, a homeless woman, was no longer reacted to the Eau Claire County prison on March 12, 2023. The examination of her death was completed in August 2023, but was not published in Wisconsin (DOJ) until the Ministry of Justice (DOJ) was checked.

It is not clear why the Doj took more than a year to check the death examination and pass it on to the public.

In July 2024, the Wisconsin examiner hired the death examination to the Sheriff office of the St. Croix County, who had commissioned the authority to carry out the investigation. Sheriff Scott Knudson noticed that the death examination was completed in August 2023 and was forwarded to the Sheriff office of the Eau Claire, but he was not sure when the Doj received it.

The completed examination was not forwarded to the examiner, since the review of the Doj, as said in Knudson, prevailed in public interest in publishing the investigation.

Knudson said there was a “compensation test” of the “public interest” compared to “integrity of the legal system”, “… to allow the Ministry of Justice enough time to make a decision in connection with the investigations before the records are passed on to the public.”

He added: “Public order favors the security of public security and the effective law enforcement, which is supported by the decision to refuse your request at this time until the Ministry of Justice has completed the examination of the investigation.”

In August 2024, the examiner submitted another record application for two points to the Sheriff of the St. Croix County: all PowerPoint presentations produced by the Sheriff office of the St. Croix County in 2023 or 2024 with the staff of Wisconsin district lawyer and/or the. By Silver O. Jenkins in the Eau Claire County prison. Each prison monitoring camera film material that is relevant for the examination of the sheriff to Silvers death.

As the application in July 2024, Sheriff Knudson denied the record application in August 2024 on the basis of the same justification that he offered in July 2024.

In January 2025, the examiner contacted the medical examiner of Eau Claire County, Marcie Rosas to copy a copy of Jenkins's autopic report. Rosas replied by phone that the report would not be published until the current DOJ evaluation.

Based on an e -mail exchange on July 15, 2024 between the office of the St. Croix Sheriff and the Doj in July 2024, it seemed that the evaluation of the Doj came to an end. The E -Mail exchange was between the Sheriff captain of St. Croix County, Tim Kufus, and the deputy attorney in General James Kraus.

“Report inquiries continue to come in. When can we expect a decision from your office? We would like to meet the inquiries, ”Kufus wrote about record inquiries about Jenkins' death examination to Kraus.

Kraus replied: “Now that we have the guidelines, I hope to complete my part of the case by the end of this month (July 2024).”

The examiner then sent several e -mail requests to the Doj in the review status, but there was no answer.

On March 14, 2023, the Sheriff's office of Eau Claire emphasized a press release about the death of Jenkins and found that “… was classified as a homeless, jumping on February 10 due to disordered behavior and bail,” and added that it was in prison with 500 US dollar in cash and her first appearance on February.

Court files also show that Jenkins had also been charged because of the deposit, an offense and Jenkins should hold a competence hearing on March 7, which, however, seems to have been changed on March 6 to March 16, four days after her death.

Jenkins was also jumping on January 31, 2023 for violation, disordered behavior and deposit.

From 2019 to 2023, silver was charged with several violations in Eau Claire County, mainly offense.

Circuit Court recordings by Eau Claire County show Silvers address as a “homeless”, but earlier court files from Racine and Kenosha Counties in their speech as 618 S. Barstow Street in Eau Claire, the place of the Sojourner House, a Catholic charity or 211 Howard Avenue in Racine, an apartment building.

The examiner contacted Catholic charity organizations and other homeless accommodation in Eau Claire for everyone who knew Jenkins, but so far there have been no answers.

Wisconsin Examiner is part of the States Newsroom, a non -profit news network that is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a public charity 501c (3). Wisconsin Examiner retains editorial independence. Contact editor Ruth Conniff for questions: [email protected].