John Basco, age 48, was found dead in his cell during the early morning hours of Sunday, September 11th. The cause of Basco’s death is yet to be determined, but the jail’s director of communications Mark Opgrande speculates that it may have been due to a drug overdose. 



During an arrest in 2019, Basco had been subjected to a heinous method of torture, when officers forced Basco to listen to Baby Shark on repeat. He and other inmates were forced to listen to Baby Shark on loop for hours on end as they stood handcuffed to the wall of the visitation room.



After his release soon thereafter Basco sued detention officers Gregory Cornell Butler Jr. and Christian Charles Miles for the psychological damages inflicted by their torture. A 2020 investigation confirmed the implementation of this practice, resulting in the termination of these two detention officers.


Basco was arrested for a second time this past Thursday, accused of drug trafficking. He was set to go to trial in a few weeks against the officers he filed suit against. Bosco's lawyer, Cameron Spradling, called his client's death "convenient" considering Bosco was set to appear in a criminal trial against the officers.