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| Deputies, jailers disciplined in suicide |
| By Courier & Press |
| Published: 03/08/2004 |
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The Vanderburgh County (Ind.) Sheriff's Department has disciplined deputies and civilian jailers as part of an investigation into the Jan. 26 suicide of inmate Rodney Freeman Wilson. Two Vanderburgh County Jail supervisory sergeants were suspended for two days and four civilian detention officers on duty at the time were suspended for three days without pay for failing to follow jail policy. Sheriff Brad Ellsworth announced the suspensions last Tuesday at a news conference. Wilson, 49, was on suicide watch at the time of his death. Ellsworth said the investigation showed the officers went more than four hours without checking on Wilson. The jail policy requires an inmate on suicide watch to be checked at least every 15 minutes. The last physical observation by a detention officer of Wilson was at 5:37 p.m. Jan. 26, when Wilson's food tray was picked up, Ellsworth said. It wasn't until 9:51 p.m. that someone noticed on the television monitor, which monitored jail cells, that something was unusual. The jail staff then discovered Wilson's body. The coroner's office later said Wilson probably had been dead an hour. Ellsworth said the coroner concluded that Wilson died in about two minutes after hanging himself. The sheriff also said most of the remaining 35 civilian detention officers, who were off duty at the time, will receive written reprimands for failure to comply with the jail policy. Ellsworth said there wasn't documentation that the detention officers were checking suicide watch cells at least every 15 minutes. The civilian emergency medical technician on duty at the time of Wilson's death also received a written reprimand, the sheriff said. Officials said the last suicide at the jail was three years ago. |
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