Man tries to hang himself at county jail

MACHIAS – An inmate found hanging in a holding cell at the Washington County Jail was in a Bangor hospital Monday, with a sheriff’s official saying the man has a 50-50 chance of recovery.

Officials at Eastern Maine Medical Center would not disclose any information about the condition of Larry Alexander, 28, of Cherryfield, who was found hanging from a sheet about 8 a.m. Sunday.

Alexander had appeared Friday in 4th District Court on an assault charge, and bail was set at $500 cash, jail administrator Robert Gross said.

After he failed to make bail, Alexander was placed in a holding cell in the intake section of the jail. The cell is separate from where the general population is held.

The holding cell has its own television set and bathroom.

Kenneth Faas of Machias said he was being booked into the jail on a charge of failure to appear on a municipal shellfish violation when he saw Alexander hanging from the bedsheet.

“They finally let me use the phone, and as I dialed … and put the receiver to my ear, I looked over into this cell and there was this man hanging,” Faas said in an interview. “I did a double take. I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I looked again and, God, this guy was hanging,” Faas said.

“I told the guard, ‘What’s this guy doing in here?’ The first remark I got was … ‘Well, he’s in here like you are.’ I said, ‘Well, he’s hanging in here.’ Then the other guard who was giving out [medicine] came over and looked and they ran in and cut him down. They revived him and got him breathing,” Faas said. “When they cut him down, he was just limp.”

Alexander was taken by ambulance to Down East Community Hospital, then was transferred to EMMC.

Gross said he had not yet received written reports from his jail officers, but that, according to what he was told, Alexander appeared fine when he was checked in his cell around 7:30 a.m. Sunday.

Although a camera in the cell monitors a prisoner’s activities, Gross said, the suicide attempt took place directly under it. Inside the cell, Gross said, is a small writing table. Near the table is the wall-mounted camera. “He stood up on that [table] … and tied a knot in his sheet where the camera is mounted. There is a small opening, and he worked the sheet in there and tied a knot on it,” he said. “I’m assuming he jumped off the table.”

Gross confirmed that CPR was administered and that Alexander then was taken to the hospital.

Alexander had not given jail officials any reason to believe that he was suicidal, Gross said.

He said a crisis counseling service had spoken with Alexander on Saturday. Gross said jail officials had not been told that the man might be suicidal.

Gross said the Washington County Jail had too many inmates over the weekend. He said the jail was built to accommodate 42 inmates. There were 62 on Sunday.

Although he said he was not placing blame, Gross attributed the overcrowding to a combination of factors, including increased arrests in response to a prescription drug problem in the county.

Chief Deputy Sidney Hughes said the incident was being investigated by Lt. David Denbow of the Washington County Sheriff’s Department. Hughes, who said he has worked for the county the past 12 years, said this was the first time he was aware of an inmate apparently attempting to hang himself.

Gross said that although the jail will explore ways to prevent similar incidents, he believes it would be impossible to make the jail suicideproof. “If somebody really wants to do it, they can do it, because you can only prevent so much,” he said.