No place to be sick: When jail cell becomes a death chamber

12-14-16 Washington:

Olympia makes no effort to regulate Washington’s jails, the state’s psychiatric hospitals of last resort

Jimi Johnson had been bouncing between the emergency room and jail for months before he was booked for the final time.

At 27, Johnson’s schizophrenia was feeding him hallucinations that only grew worse inside his Shelton jail cell. He downplayed them in a last letter to his grandmother – the voices, he wrote from solitary, were “not that BAD!!” Then, on April 23, 2013, he strangled himself with a bedsheet looped over his Mason County Jail bunk.

Two years later, it happened again.

Like Johnson, 31-year-old Brandon Dahl found himself locked up alone after a string of strange, minor crimes. Having been badly beaten during a purported “attitude adjustment” delivered by other inmates, Dahl tried suicide on Sept. 15, 2015.

Grand jury deems prison death suicide, finds no wrongdoing

11-28-16 Nebraska:

A Lancaster County grand jury has determined a 33-year-old inmate at the Lincoln Correctional Center committed suicide in January and found no wrongdoing in his death, according to reports filed last week.

Charles Gipson was found unresponsive in a prison shower around 1:30 p.m. Jan. 13 after an inmate notified a caseworker, the grand jury's report said.

Prison staff found him him lying on his side, fully clothed with a bedsheet bound with a prison-issued belt around his neck, the report said.

Attempts to revive Gipson were unsuccessful.

Lawsuit: New Orleans deputies called suicidal inmate ‘rapist and pedophile,’ left him alone for hours before jailhouse hanging

This post covers suicide of "Ryan Miller." The Other suicide mentioned is posted elsewhere.

2-13-2016 Louisiana:

A young man who hanged himself last year at Orleans Parish Prison had been called a “rapist and pedophile” by a ranking deputy at the jail and was left unsupervised for hours even after warning guards that he felt suicidal, a new lawsuit claims.

The wrongful-death suit, filed this week in U.S. District Court, claims deputies deprived Ryan Miller, 24, of Harvey, of mental health care at the lockup and gave him ample means to harm himself by leaving him unattended in an attorney visitation booth.

Miller, jailed last year on aggravated rape charges, was found dead shortly before midnight on March 23, nearly four hours after he told guards at the jail’s Templeman V building that he intended to harm himself.

Authorities have said Miller died of asphyxiation after wrapping a telephone cord around his neck.

The lawsuit describes Miller’s death as “a disturbing and completely avoidable” chapter in a long history of in-custody deaths at OPP, the decades-old jail that Sheriff Marlin Gusman closed last year when he opened the $150 million Orleans Justice Center. The lawsuit says at least 45 inmates have died in Sheriff’s Office custody since April 2006.

Man imprisoned for brutal home invasion, sexual assault found dead

2-13-2016 Wisconsin:

A Milwaukee man imprisoned for a terrorizing home invasion and sexual assault on the city's south side was found hanging in a cell at the Columbia Correctional Institution, authorities said Friday.

Prison staff brought down and unsuccessfully attempted to revive Julio Quiles-Guzman, 25, when he was found about 5 a.m., Thursday, according to a news release from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office.

Initial results of an autopsy Friday indicate Quiles-Guzman committed suicide, according to the release.

In January, 2014 Quiles-Guzman was convicted of first-degree sexual assault/use of a dangerous weapon and robbery with the of threat of force for the June, 2013 home invasion on S. Muskego Ave., according to court records and a criminal complaint.

He was sentenced to 42 years in prison and 18 years of extended supervision, according to the records.

According to the complaint, he and two other men forced their way into a couple's home and bound them at gunpoint in front of their 4-year-old son.

Lawsuit claims Department of Correction let Rikers Island inmate hang himself

2-5-16 New York:

The city Department of Correction let a Rikers Island inmate hang himself by ignoring a request to transfer the troubled man to suicide watch, a new suit alleges.

Fabian Cruz, 35, a convicted sex offender from Staten Island, killed himself in his holding cell New Year’s Day — hours after a psychologist recommended he be put under round-the-clock supervision, the Bronx Supreme Court suit says. Instead, Cruz was allowed to return to his cell — where his body was discovered in a routine check.

The suit seeks unspecified damages for Cruz’s mother and three children. Cruz had been awaiting a five-year sentence after pleading guilty to sexually abusing his girlfriend’s daughter.

The city Law Department said it would review the suit. ..Source.. by Ben Kochman, Reuven Blau

Coroner says New Orleans inmate charged with rape killed himself with a telephone cord

3-27-15 Louisiana:

New Orleans' coroner says preliminary autopsy results indicate that an inmate found in a holding cell in the city's notorious prison this week killed himself with a telephone cord.

Coroner Jeffrey C. Rouse says Ryan Miller's autopsy took place with an independent forensic pathologist chosen by Miller's family present.

Rouse says a final determination about Miller's death will be made after further investigation. Toxicology results are pending.

Miller had been charged with aggravated rape involving a 12-year-old victim. He was found Monday night with a telephone cord around his neck and died early Tuesday.

Accused rapist dies while in custody

1-7-2015 California:

A San Marcos man jailed on suspicion of rape died of an apparent suicide while in custody, authorities said Wednesday.

Jason Edward Stey, 27, died at 10:10 p.m. Tuesday, according to San Diego County sheriff’s Lt. John Maryon.

Earlier in the day, the sheriff’s department said Stey — who allegedly beat, choked and raped a North County smoke-shop clerk at her workplace last weekend — was hospitalized after trying to kill himself in his jail cell.

A guard found Stey injured at Vista Detention Center Tuesday afternoon, according to sheriff’s public affairs. He was admitted to a trauma unit at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla.

Officials declined to disclose the nature of Stey’s injuries.

Shortly before 9:30 p.m. Sunday, Stey allegedly attacked a worker at Dab Central Smoke Shop in the 900 block of West San Marcos Boulevard.

Rikers Island inmate who hanged himself was supposed to be on suicide watch, officials say

1-2-2015 New York:

A mentally ill inmate who hanged himself on New Year's Day in a Rikers Island jail cell was supposed to be placed on suicide watch, but it wasn't implemented, two city officials told The Associated Press on Friday.

A jail psychiatrist who saw Fabian Cruz on Wednesday at a clinic ordered that Cruz be transferred to a special observation unit in a different Rikers facility where he'd be placed under constant watch, but Cruz told a guard at the clinic he didn't want to go and was transferred back to his jail cell, the officials said.

Letting Cruz go back to his cell was a violation of Department of Correction protocol because inmates don't get to decide where they're housed, said one of the officials, who both spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation into what happened.

The guard also was supposed to contact a supervising captain after the suicide watch was ordered but didn't, the official said.

Cruz, 35, was discovered Thursday evening and was pronounced dead by a jail doctor. The correction officer at the clinic has been placed on modified duty.

Man Accused of Raping and Filming Son Found Hanged in His Jail Cell

11-30-2014 Alabama:

A man who was accused of imprisoning, raping and filming sex acts with his young son was reportedly found dead on Monday night.

Carl Philip Herold was facing some 18 child sex counts in Alabama. He was found hanged in his cell as he was headed to face federal charges in New York.

Herold's attorney, Adam Bollaert, said that Herold likely committed suicide as he prepared to face the charges on Nov. 21 in a Syracuse federal court.

Bollaert said that when he last saw Herold last week, “he had great spirits, he seemed up and was ready to continue fighting this case. So, we don’t understand what happened.”

Herold was arrested in Alabama in November 2013. The 33-year-old man had a computer programming background and ran a popular YouTube channel where he livestreamed programming lessons.

Carl Philip Herold found hanged in Alabama jail, faced multiple child sex charges in Huntsville

11-4-2014 Alabama:

Carl Philip Herold, charged with multiple counts of sodomy and child sex abuse along with his domestic partner, was found dead of an apparent suicide in a Clay County jail last night.

Herold, 33, was being transported by U.S. Marshals from the Madison County Jail to New York last week to face federal child pornography charges.

He was found dead last night, hanged in his cell, his attorney Adam Bollaert said this afternoon. Herold was scheduled to appear in federal court in Syracuse on Nov. 21.

Bollaert said today that Herold had been transferred by the U.S. Marshals from the Madison County Jail last week. Herold was taken to a federal holding facility in Cullman and transferred with Clay County, which also houses federal prisoners, sometime over the weekend.

Inmate suicide reported at MANCI

10-29-2014 Ohio:

MANSFIELD – The investigation into the apparent suicide of Mansfield Correctional Institution inmate Evan A. Donoho is still active, according to JoEllen Smith, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

The Findlay man, imprisoned for killing his wife three years ago, died Oct. 21.

Donoho, 29, was pronounced dead Oct. 21 at OhioHealth MedCentral Mansfield Hospital. His body was taken to the Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office, according to Richland County Coroner’s Office investigator Tom Stortz.

Donoho was a U.S. Army veteran who served a tour of duty in Afghanistan. He was not eligible for parole until 2040, according to news reports.

In 2012 Hancock County Common Pleas Judge Joseph Niemeyer sentenced Donoho to at least 29 years in prison for killing his 29-year-old wife in their home, leaving her body in a field south of Findlay, getting rid of the hammer he used in the murder and for the incident in which he downloaded child pornography, according to The Toledo Blade. The judge sentenced him to 15 years to life for the murder, then ordered he serve the maximum prison terms on the other charges consecutively. ..Source.. by Lou Whitmire

Sheriff - Brunswick inmate kills self in cell

9-11-2014 North Carolina:

A Brunswick County jail inmate who earlier this week led police on a car chase apparently killed himself in his cell, an official said.

Michael Rago, 33, was found unresponsive in his jail cell at 11:14 a.m. Thursday, said Brunswick County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Emily Flax.

"He is the victim of an apparent suicide," Flax said in a new release. "During the initial stages of these investigations, there have been no indication of foul play, nor have there been any apparent violation of (sheriff's office) policies and procedures."

Rago and Elizabeth Ashley Ventiquattro, 35, both of Ocean Isle Beach, were arrested Monday after security officers accused the two of shoplifting and returning stolen merchandise for cash at the Walmart in Southport, said Southport Police Chief Jerry Dove.

SLED: Charleston County inmate charged with assisted suicide in another inmate's death

5-8-2014 South Carolina:

State agents are investigating the strangling death of an inmate in what sheriff's deputies said is the Cannon Detention Center's first reported case of assisted suicide at the jail.

Matthew Lee Glidden, 29, of Ladson was found dead in his cell around 6:45 a.m. March 24 while officers prepared the other inmates in his unit for breakfast, investigators said.

The State Law Enforcement Division announced on Thursday that Glidden had been strangled at the hand of fellow inmate, 30-year-old Michael Robert Bixby. Agents charged Bixby with assisted suicide, according to SLED spokesman Thom Berry. He could face up to 15 years in prison or a $100,000 fine if convicted on the felony charge, Berry said.

An arrest affidavit stated Bixby confessed to investigators that he helped Glidden die.

Berry would not elaborate on how investigators confirmed that Glidden had been suicidal.

Sebastian County Inmate Dies After Suicide Attempt

7-3-2014 Arkansas:

A Fort Smith sex offender who attempted suicide June 25 at the Sebastian County Adult Detention Center died two days later in a local hospital.

Marcus Tucker, 29, died June 27 at Sparks Regional Medical Center. He had been admitted in critical condition leading up to his death, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

On June 25, Tucker had just returned from a 9 a.m. Circuit Court appearance in which he had pleaded not guilty to rape. Deputies went to Tucker’s cell about 10 a.m. to serve him a protection order when they found him in the act of harming himself, according to a news release from Lt. Philip Pevehouse with the Sebastian County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies and detention center medical personnel immediately began life-saving procedures on Tucker, and Fort Smith firefighters and EMS responded to the scene, the release states.

Tucker was taken to Sparks, where he died two days later.

The Sheriff’s Office began an internal investigation in reference to policy matters regarding the incident, Pevehouse stated in the release.

An Arkansas State Police investigation is active, according to state police spokesman Bill Sadler.

“Upon completion of the case file, it will be submitted to the sheriff and prosecutor for consideration,” he said Thursday.

On June 21, Fort Smith police arrested Tucker on suspicion of rape. Authorities placed a parole violation on his booking and issued a petition to revoke a suspended sentence on June 23, according to the release.

Tucker previously was convicted of Internet stalking of a child in Crawford County in February 2012 and fourth-degree sexual abuse in Sebastian County in March 2012, according to court documents.

He was sentenced to six years in prison plus 10 years suspended on the Crawford County charge and six years in prison on the Sebastian County charge. The sentences ran concurrently. Tucker was released from prison this spring, according to court documents. ..Source.. by Stacy Ryburn

Neo-Nazi Rapist, Murderer Keith Luke Found Dead In Apparent Suicide

5-16-2014 Massachusetts:

A self-proclaimed neo-Nazi convicted of killing two and raping a woman was pronounced dead Monday from an apparent suicide.

Massachusetts man Keith Luke, 28, was sentenced in May of last year after confessing to his 2009 crimes, telling investigators that he raped a woman because he didn't want to be a virgin anymore after being turned down "100,000 [expletive] times,” and also wanted to kill non-whites, The Enterprise reported.

On Jan. 21, 2009, Luke knocked on the door of an unidentified woman in Brockton, Massachusetts. When she answered, he pointed a gun at her head, walked inside the residence, and handcuffed her. Luke later admitted to investigators to raping and sodomizing the woman.

When the woman's sister, 20-year-old Selma Goncalves, walked into the home and saw the sexual assault taking place, she attempted to run and find help, according to The Boston Herald.

“I knew she was going to make a huge scene, so I said [expletive] it, and I shot her three times,” Luke told police. Goncalves was killed in the attack.

The murderer-rapist then shot at the woman he had just raped before returning to his car to reload his weapon. The rape victim managed to survive the shootings.

Document Sheds Light on LCS Inmate Who Committed Suicide

3-6-2013 Texas:

A 12-page document released by U.S. District Court Thursday is shedding new light on the case of an inmate who committed suicide in the LCS Detention Facility near Robstown.

It was Saturday when 26-year old Trevor Nash, a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marines, committed suicide by hanging himself with a bed sheet. He was arrested by U.S. Marshals on Feb. 27.

According to the criminal complaint filed by the FBI, Nash was arrested for obtaining and distributing child pornography. The investigation dates back to May of 2013 while Nash was a pilot-in-training at Naval Air Station-Corpus Christi.

The 12-page document outlines the FBI's investigation into Nash's alleged child porn habits. The evidence included online conversations using several different chat sites, including Yahoo Messenger.

Soldier turned rapist found dead in prison: Officials suspect suicide

2-18-2014 Kentucky:

Steven Dale Green, an Army private convicted of gang-raping an Iraqi 14-year-old girl and killing her family, died in an Arizona prison in what officials suspect was a suicide.

A former soldier, sentenced to life for raping and killing a teenage Iraqi girl and using a shotgun to gun down her family, died in an Arizona prison over the weekend in what officials suspect was a suicide.

Steven Dale Green was the first American soldier charged and convicted under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act — a law signed in 2000 that gives the federal government jurisdiction to pursue criminal cases against American citizens and soldiers for acts committed in foreign lands.

The federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman John Stahley said staff members at the federal penitentiary in Tucson, Ariz., found the 28-year-old Green, of Midland, Texas, unresponsive in his cell on Saturday. Stahley said Green's death is being investigated as a suicide.

Lenawee County Jail inmate died of slashing wounds

11-18-2013 Michigan:

Self-inflicted slashing wounds are the cause of the Nov. 13 death of a Lenawee County Jail inmate, according to a news release issued late Friday by Sheriff Jack Welsh.

A sheriff’s department investigation of the death of Daniel Terry Pitts is ongoing, Welsh stated, but the cause of the 34-year-old Clinton man’s death has been established.

Corrections staff discovered Pitts in the act of harming himself at 12:10 a.m., according the news release.

“He had to be restrained and disarmed by jail staff. He was immediately treated by jail staff and jail medical staff until EMS arrived and took over,” the release stated. Pitts was transported to ProMedica Bixby Hospital where attempts to resuscitate him failed.

“Mr. Pitts was not found dead in his cell,” Welsh stated in the news release. Foul play is not suspected.

Pitts had been in jail since his arrest on Jan. 4 on multiple charges of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for alleged abuse of a girl in Clinton. He had been scheduled for trial in January. ..Source.. by Daily Telegram staff

Another Ohio prison inmate James Blackburn commits suicide after Ariel Castro, Billy Slagle

9-11-2013 Ohio:

The state says a prison inmate has committed suicide, the third case of an Ohio prisoner killing himself in two months.

The State Highway Patrol says the inmate was found hanging in his cell at Lebanon Correctional Institution early Tuesday by his cell mate.

The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction identified the inmate Wednesday as James Blackburn of Trumbull County.

Records show the 31-year-old Blackburn entered prison in 2006 and was serving a 21-year sentence for a rape conviction.

Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro committed suicide last week as he began a life sentence for imprisoning three women in his home for a decade and repeatedly beating and raping them.

Death row inmate Billy Slagle killed himself last month just a few days before his scheduled execution. ..Source.. by NewsNet5.com

Wise County murder suspect found hanging in jail

11-22-2012 Texas:

A murder suspect who led authorities to the buried body of his girlfriend Sunday apparently took his own life inhis Wise County Jail cell Wednesday night, sheriff's officials said.

Jailers found David Wayne Malone, 29, of Bowie hanging from a bedsheet in his single cell, Wise County Sheriff David Walker said.

Walker said Thursday that resuscitation efforts were made but that Malone was pronounced dead at Wise Regional Hospital a short time later. His body has been sent to Dallas for an autopsy. Walker said the death is believed to be a suicide.

Malone faced a murder charge in the death of his girlfriend, Samantha McNorton, 28.

Investigators found McNorton's buried body Nov. 18 in a remote location off Greenwood Road and County Road 2535 in Wise County after Malone, incarcerated on other charges, directed them to the spot.

Authorities have not released how McNorton was killed.

McNorton's family reported the mother of three children missing Nov. 14 to that Richland Hills Police Department.

Wise County sheriff's authorities joined in the investigation the next day after it was learned that she had last been seen with Malone on Nov. 2 at Runaway Bay in Wise County.

Malone was arrested Nov. 15 in Cooke County on outstanding felony warrants, including a warrant alleging sexual assault on McNorton. Walker said Malone had allegedly sexually assaulted McNorton in the Springtown area.

"Basically when she got out of the hospital, her family put her up with family members in Richland Hills," Walker said.

Investigators believe that McNorton and Malone got back together in late October or early November.

Walker said investigators discussed retaliation for the sexual assault charge as a motive in the slaying but "whether we could prove it or not, who knows."

Malone told WFAA/Channel 8 in a jailhouse interview that he killed McNorton in the heat of passion because he believed she was seeing other people.

"My thinking is it's a typical deal of 'If I can't have you, nobody else can,' which we've seen over and over in family violence and things of that nature," Walker said.

Walker said that Malone had shown no suicidal tendencies but that jailers checked on him every 30 minutes. Wednesday night, a jailer saw Malone talking on the phone 17 minutes before he was found hanging in his cell, Walker said. ..Source.. by Deanna Boyd