Report Says Minn. Inmate Suicidal Before Attempt

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By Worthington Daily Globe

Published: 10/30/2002

Jail officials received reports that the 44-year-old inmate who suffered critical injuries after attempting suicide at the Nobles County Jail in August was suicidal, new documents reveal.
Around 5:30 p.m. Aug. 13, Worthington resident Carlos Villezcas attempted suicide when he jumped from a railing near his assigned second-story jail pod and fell to a concrete commons area below. Villezcas was being held on suspicion of making terroristic threats, trespassing and criminal damage.
Though Villezcas told jail officials he did not feel suicidal while he was being booked, a detention worksheet submitted upon Villezcas' admittance to the jail reads, 'witness states Villezcas threatened suicide.'
Villezcas was arrested around 2:30 p.m. Aug. 13 after he refused to leave a mobile home he was living in without a contract in Sungold Heights Mobile Home Park, 1538 N. Spring Ave., Worthington, a police report indicates. He moved in with two other men who had been renting the home, but they moved out around Aug. 1.
The mobile home's landlord asked Villezcas to leave earlier that day. In response to the request, Villezcas returned with a knife in each hand, the landlord told police. 'Villezcas took one of the knives and made a slashing motion near his throat stating that he (Villezcas) would kill himself, and it would be (the landlord's) fault,' another police report reads.
Nobles County Sheriff Kent Wilkening, who oversees the jail, said Villezcas was not under a 'suicide watch' at the jail because he told officials during booking procedures that he did not want to kill himself.
'They asked him how he's feeling, does he want to hurt himself,' Wilkening said, 'and every time he was asked, he gave a 'no' indication.'
Wilkening said he was not aware of a statement Villezcas made to the police after his arrest where Villezcas said he heard 'voices (that) keep telling him to leave the country or kill himself,' according to a police report.
Wilkening said law enforcement officials in the field need to hear directly from an individual that he or she is suicidal before officials can consider placing that person in a 72-hour mental health unit for monitoring.
'I know it's a sad situation, but unless you directly tell me yourself that you want to harm yourself, they won't admit you to a 72-hour home,' Wilkening said.
If an inmate is on suicide watch, jail nurses and staff of Southwest Mental Health also speak with the inmate to assess his condition.
Per jail procedure, suicidal inmates are also placed in an isolation pod directly across from a jailer's control booth so the jailers can watch that inmate more closely, Wilkening said. Villezcas was not placed in the isolation pod because he was not on suicide watch.
Villezcas' stepson, Miguel Flores of California, believes the sheriff's department has not investigated his father's suicide attempt enough.
'There's got to be some kind of investigation,' Flores said. 'It's just very fishy.
All the inmates at the Nobles County Jail, 'whether they're guilty or not,' are in the sheriff's department's custody, and it's the department's responsibility to care for the inmates, Flores said.
Wilkening said his department investigated the suicide attempt thoroughly.
'We handled this investigation like we would have handled any other investigation, whether it was inside the jail or outside,' Wilkening said. Deputies questioned inmates and staff who were in the jail during the attempt, he said.
'We found just exactly what we thought,' Wilkening said of the investigation's result. 'We have talked to staff that if there is any indication whatsoever (that an inmate is contemplating suicide), then we would rather ... keep them on the lower level ... or put them in the isolation pod.'
Wilkening said there was little the jail officers could have done to prevent Villezcas' attempt.
'If somebody ... wants to do something like that ...' he said, not completing his sentence.
Meanwhile, Villezcas was officially charged Oct. 1 in Nobles County District Court for the events that led to his Aug. 13 arrest.
He is charged with assault in the second degree for pointing two knives at the mobile home landlord and fourth degree criminal damage to property for kicking in the front door of the mobile home. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of seven years imprisonment and/or a $14,000 fine for the assault charge and 90 days imprisonment and/or a $1,000 fine for the criminal damage charge. Villezcas' first court appearance is on hold pending an improvement in his health.
Villezcas is listed in good condition at Avera McKennan Rehabilitation Services, Sioux Falls, S.D., hospital spokeswoman Jill Hurley said Monday.
Immediately after his suicide attempt, Villezcas was listed in critical condition with head and neck injuries at Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls.
He was transferred to the Sioux Falls rehabilitation clinic after he being placed at South Shore Care Center Worthington during the week of Sept. 8.
Flores said his stepfather's improved condition is of little consolation. 'He's alright, but he's going to be mentally ill for the rest of his life,' Flores said of Villezcas, who has no long-term memory and cannot carry fluid conversations. 'He won't be able to hold a job again.'
Villezcas moved to Worthington from Texas to work for the Swift & Co. meatpacking plant nine years ago and has one other son, but no relatives in the area, Flores said.

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