BANGOR – The state Department of Corrections has concluded that there were “no violations of standards” by Penobscot County Jail personnel in the handling of an inmate’s suicide seven weeks ago.

Michelle Mills, 38, of Southwest Harbor killed herself Sept. 12 in a jail cell while awaiting trial on a charge of murder in an elderly woman’s 2006 slaying.

Mills’ body was found about 11:20 a.m. by a corrections officer making routine rounds.

Penobscot County Sheriff Glenn Ross said at the time that Mills tied a bedsheet around her neck in a makeshift noose and hung the rope from a window connected to her jail cell door. Jail staff unsuccessfully tried to revive her, Ross said.

On Friday, Ross released an Oct. 29 letter from Robert Lancaster of the Corrections Department’s Inspections Division. State law requires that jail officials notify the Corrections Department when an inmate dies.

State inspectors conduct investigations into suicides at the state’s county jails. They determine whether the policies and procedures were in compliance with state standards when the deaths occurred.

“This was a tragic event as is any death by suicide,” Ross said in a news release issued with Lancaster’s letter Friday.

As an administrator, it is always my concern in events such as this that our staff was doing their job per state standards and departmental policy. We always learn ways to improve our operations when faced with situations such as this.”

Ross also expressed sympathy to Mills’ family and friends.

“Our agency continues to highlight the concern with this statewide issue of suicide in your youth, community, jails and prison,” he said in the press release. “There are no winners, only heartbroken families and friends.”

Police believe Mills used a ceramic gargoyle to bludgeon to death Jacqueline Evans, 83, of Southwest Harbor inside Evans’ home. The killing was spurred by a dispute over money, according to court documents that claimed Mills previously had been hired by Evans to serve as a caretaker for the elderly woman’s sick friend.

She was being held in the Bangor jail instead of the Hancock County Jail in Ellsworth as a safety precaution, Ross said in September. Potential witnesses who might have been called to testify at her trial were being held in Ellsworth on unrelated charges, he said.