How Did This Happen? Tillie Deitz, Mother of Three, Found Dead in the Champaign County Jail
My first article of 2023 was published today, “No Such Thing As a “Safe” Jail: 31-Year-Old Woman Dies at Champaign County Jail.” It’s about Tillie Deitz who passed away on October 13, 2022, around the noon hour, in the middle of the day, as guards stood by. She had told guards she was experiencing drug withdrawal when she entered the jail. Still, she was left to suffer. Deitz’s mother told me she was still in shock and wondered, “HOW THIS HAPPENED.”
The article was published by my friends at Smile Politely who often run my stuff. This is the first time Deitz’s name has been publicly acknowledged. I don’t take it lightly. It’s not my intention to bring any unwanted attention to Deitz’s family which is still grieving. But it is important for the public to know that these are real people with real lives. Tillie Deitz leaves behind three young children who will grow up without their mother.
Other media outlets have failed to do even a cursory follow-up to this story. This is another tragedy, indicating how little regard the media has for people who end up on the wrong side of the law. The media treats them as invisible.
For writing this article, I received $10 as payment. Smile Politely is an entirely free online publication, which makes its money from advertising local businesses. They don’t have much to pay authors.
In order to investigate this story, I had to file multiple FOIA requests, read more than 50 pages of public documents, talk to the coroner’s office, and spend around ten hours writing the piece. I wrote the article not out of a desire to make money, but because I was compelled to find out what happened in the jail. Any time someone dies in police custody, whether on the streets, or in jail, the public deserves to know what happened.
Still, I have bills to pay. Consider making a financial contribution today by subscribing to Sentences, my Substack newsletter at: