1-4-2011 Alaska:ANCHORAGE: Parole violator was picked up on New Year's Day.
An inmate climbed the railing of a walkway and jumped to his death inside the Anchorage jail over the weekend, corrections officials say.
It was the fifth time an inmate has committed suicide by jumping from heights inside an Alaska corrections building since the state began tracking the statistic in 1984, said Laura Brooks, director of behavioral health for the Corrections Department.
Ralph Kosbruk, 44, of Anchorage had been taken into custody at about 11 a.m. on New Year's Day for a parole violation, said Department of Corrections spokesman Richard Schmitz.
A few hours later, Kosbruk jumped from a second-tier balcony at Anchorage Correctional Center East, Schmitz said. He was pronounced dead at the scene, troopers say.
No foul play is suspected, according to troopers.
When new inmates arrive at a jail, they're asked if they feel suicidal or have a history of suicide attempts, Brooks said.
She wouldn't say how Kosbruk answered those questions, citing medical privacy laws.
But, she said, "I can tell you that if someone came in and made statements that raise any kind of suspicion, they would have been put on suicide watch for a minimum of 24 hours."
Kosbruk was not on suicide watch, she said.
A registered sex offender, he was convicted in 2005 of attempted sexual abuse of a minor, according to the state Department of Public Safety sex offender registry.
The state medical examiner's office has requested an autopsy, troopers said. Schmitz couldn't immediately say what Kosbruk did to violate parole.
The death is at least the second such incident in fewer than three years.
In October 2008, a 46-year-old man accused of setting his hotel room on fire died after diving from a second-story catwalk at the jail, troopers said at the time.
Inmates who are considered at risk for suicide are sometimes placed in an acute care psychiatric unit that -- unlike most housing units in Alaska jails -- has wire mesh on the upper tier that prevents people throwing things or jumping to the floor below, Brooks said. ..Source.. by KYLE HOPKINS
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