Coroner identifies deceased inmate at Douglas County Jail

The Douglas County coroner’s office identified Rachel Margaret Harvey Hammers, 32, as the inmate who died Saturday morning following a medical emergency at the Douglas County Jail.

Kansas Bureau of Investigation Deputy Director Kyle Smith said Monday that KBI agents were conducting interviews and awaiting final autopsy results, including a toxicology report, which could take several weeks.

By law, the KBI investigates all deaths of inmates in Kansas.

Undersheriff Steve Hornberger said at 9:51 a.m. Saturday correctional facility staff responded to an inmate who was experiencing a medical emergency. Staff members initiated CPR, and Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical workers later transported the inmate to Lawrence Memorial Hospital. The inmate was pronounced dead at the hospital at 10:45 a.m. It was the first in-custody death at the jail, 3601 E. 25th St., since the facility opened in 1999, according to the sheriff’s office.

The sheriff’s office did not release additional details Monday, including the identity of the inmate, but a coroner’s spokesman confirmed it was Hammers. Coroner’s investigators are awaiting lab test results as part of the autopsy.

Services for Hammers are planned for 11 a.m. today at Grace Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Lawrence, according to her obituary published Monday in the Journal-World. She was a 1997 graduate of Perry-Lecompton High School and a 2003 Kansas University graduate.

According to jail records, Hammers was booked at 5:45 p.m. Friday into jail on a warrant for failing to appear in district court. According to court records, the warrant was related to a February guilty plea to DUI, and prosecutors were seeking to revoke her probation. District Judge Paula Martin issued a warrant for her arrest May 3 after Hammers did not appear in court.