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| Calif. Town Mourns 92-Year-Old Inmate |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 07/17/2002 |
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In the old mining town of Oroville, still called the 'City of Gold,' a 92-year-old man found a home and friends behind bars, then apparently committed suicide after he was released from the county jail against his wishes. It was in the middle of a heat wave and just days after his release when Coval Russell apparently took a taxi to the Table Mountain Bridge and then leaped, or possibly fell, head first onto river rocks 40 feet below. His body was found July 10. His attorney says Russell didn't want to leave the Butte County Jail, even when his time there was up. He had been jailed last year for stabbing his 70-year-old landlord with a pocket knife. It was his first time behind bars, said attorney Grady Davis, and Russell got accustomed to the single-story facility, surrounded by chain link fence topped by razor wire. 'He pretty much considered our jail his home,' said Butte County Sheriff Scott Mackenzie. Jailers liked the old guy, as did his fellow inmates, who called him 'Pops.' He became a grandfather figure to younger men, Mackenzie said. Russell was a lifelong bachelor and had outlived his family and friends. He was blind in one eye, had prostate cancer and back problems, and couldn't walk far. Still, his mind was sharp as a tack, the sheriff and attorney said. He 'was in a place where he would have people listen to him, talk to him and share some camaraderie,' Davis said. But Russell's jail time was up at 426 days, and he was shown the door even though he asked a judge to let him stay. Because he had up to $20,000 in his bank account and wasn't mentally incapacitated, the county couldn't tell him where to go or what to do. After two weeks on the outside, living in a motel, he was found dead on the rocks below what locals call 'the old green bridge.' |
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