JEFFERSON COUNTY — Four people died while in custody at the Jefferson County Detention Facility in 2025, and their loved ones are demanding answers about the medical care provided within the jail.
Most recently, 54-year-old Harvey Jacobs was found "unresponsive on his bunk" on the morning of Dec. 30, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office (JCSO). The original release from JCSO announcing Jacobs' death said CPR and other life-saving efforts were attempted for roughly 40 minutes before he was pronounced dead.
According to JCSO, Jacobs was arrested by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office and booked into the Jefferson County Detention Facility on Dec. 1. He faced charges of contempt of court connected to a prior DWAI charge.
While an investigation is underway, JCSO acknowledged Jacobs was being treated for a "variety of pre-existing medical conditions" while in custody.
Denver7 reached out to the JCSO for an interview about the investigation, but they do not comment on such cases.
Meanwhile, Jacobs family is left with countless questions about what happened to their loved one.
"He had a lot of health issues, but he had the biggest heart in the world," said Jacobs' sister Judy Drago.
Her brother's health issues included heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes, along with a wound on his foot that was not properly healed when he was booked into the jail, Drago said.
Jacobs, who was described as a Broncos fan who loved the outdoors, had not completed his sentence for his DWAI, according to his sisters.
“I had been on him for years to get that taken care of, and he always told me, 'I'm afraid if I end up back in jail, I will not make it back out,'" Drago explained. “He was afraid from the minute he got arrested. I mean, I think he knew that he wasn't leaving there.”
Drago said Jacobs was expected to be released on Jan. 15. However, when she would speak with him, he sounded scared.
“He kept on telling them, 'My foot, the wound, doesn't look right. It's smelling funny. I'm afraid it's infected,'" Drago said. "They wouldn't let him put his foot in a bag to shower because they said it was a hazard... So, they wouldn't put a bag or anything over his foot. And so, he had to just shower, and then he'd have a wet bandage.”
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Drago spoke with her brother two days before he died and said he felt helpless.
"Nobody was listening," Drago said. "I think he knew he was going to die there, and that breaks my heart.”
Drago, sitting alongside her sister Tammy Rothbauer, is angry about what happened to her brother.
“They're labeled a criminal because they're in jail. And I feel like nobody really cares what happened to him," Drago said. “It's completely wrong. He shouldn't have been there. I get he broke the law. I get (that) he should have gone back and taken care of his time, or whatever it was. But now I completely understand why he didn't. I understand why he was so freaking afraid to go back there. And it breaks my heart because I didn't truly believe or understand what he was so afraid of, because we've never been through it.”
The family is represented by Attorney Anita Springsteen, who said she represents five families in similar situations.
"If you are assuming that these people that you are sentencing to the jail are getting proper medical care, you are wrong," Springsteen said. "The jails in the State of Colorado are outrageous. They are underfunded, they are not being run properly, and people are really in mortal danger... Even if you're looking at people who maybe deserve to be there for a longer period of time — they still are human beings. And all of us deserve to have basic human rights, such as medical care that we need.”
Springsteen would like to see Jefferson County examine the contract they have with the medical provider who works within the jail.
According to Springsteen, once the investigation into Jacobs' death has concluded, her work begins.
“Although we can't bring these loved ones back to the families, I hope that we give them a little bit of solace in knowing that they are changing things and that they are bringing some kind of justice to their loved ones who died by pursuing change in the jail," Springsteen said.
Jacobs' sisters are left wondering if there was another option, instead of jail time, that could have been considered for their brother.
"I don't think they can truly take care of a sick person in jail," Drago said. "He should have never died."
The Jefferson County Coroner's Office told Denver7 that Jacobs' autopsy report is not currently available. The chief deputy coroner continued to say most reports take anywhere from six to eight weeks to complete, depending on the case.
Jacobs was the youngest of five siblings and one of his other sisters, Cynthia Smith, sent Denver7 a written statement which can be read below:
Harvey called me at least once a week while in jail. He was always worried about his health and told me stories about receiving four blood thinner pills instead of his prescribed one, or not receiving meds that he had taken for years that they said he shouldn’t take. He was afraid that he would die in jail.
I was the last family member to speak to Harvey on December 28th. He called me terrified and anxious and was pleading for us to contact his cardiologist because he did not think that the medical unit was giving him the medications he needed and he feared that his open wound was infected and the infection could go to his heart. He said he was struggling to breath; his legs were swelling and he felt very off. He said that the staff there would not listen to him or contact his doctor. Harvey has been taken to the hospital on multiple occasions due to heart failure in the past. He knows what it feels like when water is building up in his body. When we reached his cardiologist, they stated that they needed a fax number. We tried every phone number we could find and nobody answered any of our calls to the jail. I tried to reach him via a messaging system and that system gave me a pop-up that it was down. We waiting by our phones in hopes that he would call us, but the next call I received was that he had passed away 36 hours later.
I do not believe that a true evaluation or even a full review of his medical conditions was ever done or under consideration by Judge Bradley Burback. The JeffCo medical unit was not able to care for my brother. This medical unit has a history of medical malpractice with inmates unnecessarily dying under their care. This judge knows that and yet he made the decision to hold him for 54 days and rejected a written plea from Harvey without explanation or medical review on December 9th. Real criminals are let out all time on bail or home monitoring. Why would he not consider those options in a traffic violation case that occurred 5 years ago (DWAI not DUI). He never hurt anyone — he was not a criminal.
Below is a list of Harvey’s medical issues:
- Heart disease with mechanical heart value open heart surgery 11 months prior. Hospitalized multiple times for congestive heart failure
- COPD – on daily oxygen therapy
- Diabetes - two toes amputated
- Has had two strokes
- Severe foot neuropathy (could not feel feet) unable to walk independently
- Broken bone in side of foot with bone exposed open wound – under wound care
- Severe obesity 6’5” 397 lbs – how would medical staff move him
