Death of inmate during jailhouse brawl declared justifiable self-defense, OPSO says

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - The Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office has closed the investigation into the death of an inmate during a jailhouse brawl in June.

According to Sheriff Susan Hutson, OPSO investigators determined that Philip Soublet Jr., 31, first attacked fellow inmate Jrell Jack with a deadly weapon before Jack armed himself in self-defense and fatally wounded Soublet.

The results of the investigation were handed over to the District Attorney, who presented those to a grand jury, who declined to indict Jack with any crime.

Three other individuals were arrested as part of the investigation:

• Mikael Nelson, attempted second-degree murder
• Harrison Bethley, simple battery
• Otiz Jackson, obstruction of justice and contraband

Sheriff Hutson says there were no deputies in the pod at the time the fight broke out. She says deputies were observing from a remote location.

Soublet was one of two inmates to die on the same weekend.

Chad Neyland, 46, jumped from a mezzanine-level balcony inside the jail to his death while going through what Hutson’s office claimed was heroin withdrawal.

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