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| Kansas Prison Supervisor Under Arrest Hangs Himself |
| By Salina Journal |
| Published: 10/28/2002 |
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An Ellsworth prison supervisor who was in the Ellsworth County, Colo., Jail after being arrested on a Colorado criminal warrant committed suicide Friday, officials say. Mark D. Saunders, 49, Ellsworth, used a bed sheet to hang himself in his cell sometime before 9:50 a.m., Ellsworth County Attorney Joe Shepack said. A guard had checked on Saunders just a short time before, about 9 a.m., Shepack said. Saunders, a master sergeant at the Ellsworth Correctional Facility, was arrested this past week on a warrant approved by Gov. Bill Graves seeking Saunders' return to Steamboat Springs, Colo., on criminal charges. Shepack said the warrant was for two charges: defrauding a creditor and concealing or removing property used to secure a loan. Both offenses are felonies under Colorado law. Shepack said Colorado authorities were scheduled to arrive Friday to pick up Saunders. According to Ross Kelly, detective with the Steamboat Springs Police Department, the missing property in question was a variety of guns used to secure two personal loans totaling about $7,500 from an acquaintance in Steamboat Springs. Those notes became due several years ago, Kelly said. 'There had been a number of attempts to collect on the notes,' Kelly said. The crimes carry a penalty range of between six months and three years in prison, with a presumption of probation for an offender with no criminal history, he said. Saunders' family members could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Saunders started working as a corrections officer for the Kansas Department of Corrections at the Ellsworth Correctional Facility in January 1999. He was promoted to sergeant in September 2000 and to master sergeant in April. He was a living-unit supervisor responsible for supervising inmates, prison warden Ray Roberts said. At the time of his death, Saunders was on leave without pay pending the outcome of the Colorado charges, Roberts said. His wife, Pamela, works at the prison as a food service employee, Roberts said. Shepack said Saunders visited with his wife at the jail the night before he died. Investigators found a multi-page suicide note addressed to her in the cell after his body was discovered. 'So we have no reason to suspect foul play,' Shepack said. 'It has all the earmarks of a suicide. 'He'd been in (jail) a couple of days and otherwise was an unremarkable inmate. He had said he worked for DOC, and that's why he was in a separate cell. It was a standard precaution,' Shepack said. Jail officials said Saunders didn't appear despondent or unduly agitated, he said. |
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