Rutherford County Adult Detention Center in Tennessee, where 37-year-old Joseph Denton allegedly choked to death on a piece of chicken (Google Maps).
A Tennessee man with no teeth choked to death on a piece of chicken that jail staff gave him instead of the “soft diet” he was required to have, a lawsuit says. The jailers allegedly watched him die and ignored “frantic pleas” from other inmates to save him.
“Defendants could visibly see the decedent choking and/or heard the calls of other inmates and knew there was a medical emergency,” a legal complaint filed by Joseph Denton”s grandmother says.
Denton, 37, died in May 2025 at the Rutherford County Adult Detention Center in Murfreesboro from “complications of choking,” according to his death certificate and his grandmother’s complaint, which names Rutherford County and jail staff as defendants.
He allegedly told the jailers that he had all his teeth removed before his incarceration in August 2022 and required a “soft diet.” But the request was repeatedly ignored, according to his grandmother.
It’s unclear why Denton was locked up.
“Decedent suffered from a number of medical conditions, including an orthopedic disease that made walking difficult and painful and necessitated the use of a wheelchair,” the complaint explains. “Decedent also had all of his teeth removed prior to his incarceration, which made chewing difficult and/or impossible, and decedent requested a soft diet in August of 2022 while he was being processed into the jail.”
The jailers were “all aware that decedent had no teeth and had requested a soft diet” but he was “repeatedly and routinely served foods that were not consistent with a soft diet” and were difficult for Denton to chew and swallow, the complaint says.
“On May 31, 2025, defendants served the decedent a regular diet meal including chicken as a protein,” the document recounts. “Decedent was in his cell on the second floor of the jail attempting to eat his meal when he began choking.”
Other inmates saw Denton choking and rushed to his side, while “calling and signaling for the guards, jail staff, and/or medical staff members to provide assistance,” according to the complaint. “There were multiple guards, jail staff, and/or medical staff members who observed decedent choking, but they refused and/or failed to offer assistance or call for help,” the document alleges.
Jailers ignored “the calls and frantic pleas of other inmates” as Denton became unresponsive and then briefly regained consciousness before “quickly” becoming unresponsive again and going into cardiac arrest, per the complaint.
When medical staff finally arrived to offer assistance, Denton was “pulseless and unresponsive,” according to his grandmother.
“CPR and other life saving measures were administered, and EMS eventually arrived, but decedent never regained consciousness,” the complaint says.
The Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office could not be reached by Law&Crime for comment. The agency declined to comment when contacted by The Tennessean about Denton’s death and the lawsuit.
According to the local newspaper, Rutherford County Adult Detention Center failed an inspection conducted by the Tennessee Corrections Institute (TCI) the same month Denton died. The inspection report, which was obtained by The Tennessean, says the jail failed to provide adequate space to inmates in violation of state regulations. The jail’s food service, however, was found to meet local standards.
TCI said in a statement that “agencies are required to provide adequate medical care comparable to what care would be provided to the offender if they were not incarcerated,” according to The Tennessean. “This would include soft foods if the designated health authority deemed it necessary as part of the offender’s treatment,” the institute said.
