73-Year-Old Woman Held On Trespassing Charges Dies At Arlington Jail

ARLINGTON, VA — A 73-old-old woman died Sunday after being found unresponsive in her jail cell at the Arlington County Detention Facility, according to Arlington County police.

Deputies found Abonesh Woldegeorges unresponsive in her cell at about 7 a.m. on Sunday. Arlington Fire & Rescue units arrived at the jail at 7:10 a.m. and took Woldegeorges to Virginia Hospital Center, where she was later pronounced dead, police said.

Woldegeorges had been arrested and charged with trespassing by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority on Aug. 13 and was being held at the Arlington County jail as she waited to be taken to Loudoun County for a "failure to appear" charge related to a prior trespassing incident with the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, according to police.

Arlington police said that Woldegeorges’ family was notified about her death.

Woldegeorges is the eighth person to die in the Arlington County jail in the past eight years. Paul Thompson, 41, was the last person to die at the jail, ARLnow reported. He died on Feb. 1, 2022, and was also being held on a trespassing charge when he died.

After Thompson's death in February 2022, the Arlington County Sheriff's Office reportedly implemented health and medical care reforms to improve medical care, including medical devices to track heart rates and alert workstations.

"In recent years, eight people have lost their lives at the county detention center. All of them have been people of color," the Arlington branch of the NAACP said in a statement Sunday. "It is well-established that Black people are policed and arrested at significantly higher rates than their peers in Arlington, Virginia."

After Thompson's death in the jail in 2022, the NAACP Arlington Branch called for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the detention center.

While Black residents make up 9 percent of Arlington County's population, the county's jail population on any given day is more than 65 percent Black, the NAACP said.

"It's unimaginable that a 73-year-old woman being held on trespassing charges would ultimately lose her life while in custody," Michael Hemminger, president of the NAACP Arlington Branch, said in a statement. "Unfortunately, we have seen a pattern and practice of blatant disregard for basic care at the Arlington County jail and it is leading to deaths at an alarming rate."

The NAACP Arlington Branch said it has reached out to government officials to discuss Woldegeorges' death at the jail and is awaiting a response. "Arlington County Sheriff’s Office and other county leaders have, again, failed to properly address the root problem, and another person has tragically lost her," Hemminger said.

The Arlington County Police Department said it is conducting a death investigation and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will determine a cause and manner of her death.

In response to Woldegeorges' death, Susan Cunningham, a Democratic candidate for Arlington County Board, on Monday called on the county board to "act swiftly" to convene a public work session to hear directly from Sheriff Jose Quiroz on the steps his office has taken and intends to take to enhance the quality of health care for people in custody at the jail.

Cunningham said the NAACP and other community stakeholders should be invited to attend and present testimony at the public work session.

The Arlington County Board also should direct the county manager's office to determine whether medical, behavioral health and rehousing support was provided to Woldegeorges by Arlington County and other nearby jurisdictions, a review that would help "to identify gaps and better serve every community member’s needs," Cunningham said.