CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A West Virginia corrections official has confirmed a report of a suicide at the South Central Regional Jail in Charleston.
Paul O'Dell, deputy director of the state's Regional Jail Authority, said Joseph Daniel Albohn, 54, of Kanawha County, was found dead in his cell at about 2 a.m. Tuesday. O'Dell said Albohn apparently hanged himself with a bed sheet.
Albohn was sent to the jail on Aug. 1 on child pornography charges, O'Dell said. He said Albohn had been on a suicide watch, but that a psychologist had determined it was safe to take him off the watch on Aug. 10.
"When they're on suicide watch, they have nothing [they could use to harm themselves]," O'Dell said. Albohn would not have had access to bed sheets while on suicide watch.
O'Dell said Albohn was not back in the general prison population at the time of his death.
The West Virginia State Police is investigating.
According to a criminal complaint on file in Kanawha County Circuit Court, a family member turned Albohn in after finding a laptop computer with images of children engaged in sexual activity hidden under a nightstand in Albohn's bedroom. According to the complaint, the family member called Albohn while police were present and confronted him about the computer.
Albohn told the relative he had stopped looking at the images several months before and had hidden the laptop, according to the criminal complaint. He also reportedly had said he thought about destroying the laptop.
Albohn told the relative the Jerry Sandusky child-rape trial influenced his decision to stop looking at the images. In June, Sandusky was convicted on 45 counts of sexually assaulting 10 boys over a 15-year period while serving as an assistant football coach at Penn State University.
In February, Albohn filed for bankruptcy, court records show. He listed his assets as $122,900 and liabilities as $107,435. ..Source.. by Rusty Marks
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