Man found dead at Wake County Detention Center had mental illness, father says
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Wake County Detention Center reports second inmate death this month; SBI opens probe.
- Staff and officers attempted life-saving measures; EMS responded; examiner to rule cause.
- This marks the county’s second jail death this month; NC reported 62 jail deaths in 2024.
A man was found unresponsive and pronounced dead at the Wake County Detention Center on Wednesday, the second inmate death at the jail this month.
Jeffrey Paul Paske, 34, of Raleigh was found unresponsive in his cell at 5:30 a.m. Wednesday, according to a Wake County Sheriff’s Office news release.
Detention center officers and medical staff tried to revive him, and EMS was called. The State Bureau of Investigation will investigate and the Sheriff’s Office will do its own investigation, which is standard policy.
The SBI finding will be reported to the Wake County district attorney.
Paske was arrested Oct. 5 on a charge of breaking and entering a vehicle with theft, and other charges, according to court records. That resulted Tuesday in a misdemeanor conviction and a 120-day sentence in the Wake jail, court records show.
Struggled with mental illness, father says
In an interview Wednesday afternoon, Richard Paske said his son had serious mental health issues and was being housed in a section of the jail for those struggling with mental illness.
Paske never married and had no children, his father said. He began showing signs of bipolar disorder when he was a student at N.C. State University 14 years ago.
“He’s been in and out of psych hospitals all year,” Richad Paske said. “In general, in his life he’s had like 45 psychiatric hospitalizations.”
Earlier this year, when Paske was before another judge on an assault charge, his family wanted him committed to a longer-term facility such as the Central Regional Hospital in Butner as part of his sentence, his father said. But Paske received probation instead, and was back in court on the vehicle break-in charge weeks later.
2nd inmate death in October
Paske is the second inmate to die at the Wake County Detention Center on Hammond Road this month. Alvin Saunders, 33, was found unresponsive in his cell on Oct. 11.
The Sheriff’s Office also has a second detention facility at the John H. Baker Jr. Public Safety Center, on South. Salisbury Street in downtown Raleigh.
The medical examiner’s office will determine how Paske died, according to the news release.
There were 62 inmates who died in jails throughout North Carolina in 2024, according to state data.
This story was originally published October 29, 2025 at 3:23 PM.
