An Oklahoma inmate who was part of a lawsuit alleging that jail staff tortured detainees was found dead in his cell on Sunday.
John Basco, 48, was found unresponsive in his cell in the Oklahoma County Detention Center at approximately 3:52 a.m. on Sunday morning by a detention officer performing site checks, according to a press release from the jail. Emergency responders arrived and Basco was pronounced dead at 4:06 a.m.
A cause of death is not yet known, but the state’s medical examiner is set to make a final determination. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is also involved in the investigation, per the release.
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On Sept. 8, Basco was booked into the Oklahoma county jail — the same jail that is at the center of a federal civil rights lawsuit that Basco and three other prior inmates filed in 2021 for events that occurred in 2019. Defendants include Oklahoma County Sheriff Tommie Johnson III, the board of county commissioners, the jail trust, and two former jail officers.
Basco and inmates Joseph Mitchell and Daniel Hedrick said they were tortured by being forced into “stress positions” as the children’s song “Baby Shark” played for hours on end, according to court documents. The stress positions included standing in handcuffs in an attorney visitation room and listening to the song on repeat for three to four hours. Each man endured torture at different times, the lawsuit stated.
The men were seeking $75,000 in damages and interest from the court filing date.
Basco was considered a “key witness” in the case before his death. Cameron Spradling, Basco’s attorney, wrote in several Twitter posts that his client’s death was “mysterious.”
“I mourn the loss of my client John Basco, a Baby Shark Torture Victim, who died today in the custody of the Oklahoma County Jail. The worst jail in the world!” Spradling said.
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Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater charged two former jail employees and their supervisor with misdemeanor cruelty in October 2020, stating that playing the song as a form of punishment was “cruel and inhumane” and put “undue emotional stress on the inmates who were most likely already suffering,” according to ABC News.
The civil rights lawsuit is stayed pending the conclusion of the criminal cases against the jail employees.
