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| Report: Vt. Jail Staff Handled Inmate Death Appropriately |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 07/21/2003 |
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Jail staff appropriately handled the death of an inmate at the Newport jail, according to a Vermont Department of Corrections report. Lawrence Bessette, 34, was one of three inmates who died during a five-week period this spring. The more than 40-page report details the events that unfolded after Corrections employees found Bessette hanging in his cell May 22 at Northern State Correctional Facility but large sections of the report remain unavailable for public review. Bessette was moved to Newport from the South Burlington jail just over a week before he died. Bessette was jailed in March for domestic assault and violating the conditions of an earlier release. He was facing four charges that had not been resolved. He had trouble adjusting to his confinement, but was put in the general prison population, the report found. Corrections officials have said Bessette was not on suicide watch, which requires frequent checks of his cell. Gov. James Douglas this week called the accidental death and suicides of three inmates while in custody 'unacceptable.' Fourteen pages of the department's report - released in response to a request from The Burlington Free Press under Vermont open records law - are blacked out or blank, and significant portions of the remaining pages are also redacted. The text is excluded from public scrutiny because of security and privacy concerns, according to a letter from the department's Director of Correctional Services Richard Turner. The department has not released reports on the deaths of two other inmates, citing ongoing police investigations,although state police said they closed the investigation into Eva LaBounty's death when it was ruled a suicide. LaBounty, 30, died May 7 of a drug overdose at Dale Correctional Facility for women in Waterbury. Charles Palmer, 48, died April 20 of a drug overdose at Northern State Correctional Facility in Newport. Four inmate deaths - including one of natural causes in February - in the first five months of the year is an unusually high number in a corrections system that generally has between two and five such deaths a year. Douglas said this week that he has asked Corrections Commissioner Steven Gold and Public Safety Commissioner Kerry Sleeper to investigate and report back to him with their findings. Corrections Officer Ryan Duquette checked Bessette's cell every 30 minutes in the hour before his death as required, the report says. The last two checks were at 3:05 p.m. and 3:35 p.m., according to the report. Bessette's cellmate returned from the prison yard at approximately 3:35 p.m. and found Bessette hanging in his cell, Duquette wrote. The department report concludes that its policy of transferring 'pre-trial detainees' should be 'reviewed and re-prioritized.' Inmates 'optimally' should be jailed as close to the jurisdiction prosecuting them as possible,according to the report. |
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