Virginia State Police are investigating after a person being held at the Roanoke City Adult Detention Center was found unresponsive and later pronounced dead.
According to the Roanoke City Sheriff’s Office, detention center staff discovered the individual during a mandatory round on Monday, September 28.
Staff and contracted medical personnel immediately began lifesaving efforts, including CPR. Roanoke City Fire-EMS responded and continued resuscitation efforts, but the individual was pronounced dead at the scene.
Virginia State Police have now taken over the investigation.
This is not the first recent death at the Roanoke City jail.
Just last month, on August 1, 2026, another person incarcerated at the Roanoke City Adult Detention Center was found unresponsive during a scheduled medical round at approximately 9:20 p.m. Despite lifesaving efforts, that individual was pronounced dead about 20 minutes later. Virginia State Police also investigated that death.
With several deaths connected to the Roanoke City Adult Detention Center reported in recent years — including two in roughly the past two months — serious questions are beginning to be raised about what happened in these cases and what the investigations ultimately found.
To be clear, this is the Roanoke CITY Adult Detention Center in downtown Roanoke — not the Roanoke County jail or Western Virginia Regional Jail.