Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 1, 1995 TAG: 9511010060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Lisa Hunt was found hanging from a shelf in her holding cell nearly eight hours after she was brought into the city jail. She was a Franklin County prisoner awaiting transfer to state prison on drug charges, according to Maj. George McMillan of the Roanoke Sheriff's Office.
Earlier this year, Hunt was convicted of distributing cocaine and methamphetamine and sentenced to four years in prison by a Franklin County Circuit judge. It is common for Roanoke City Jail to house Franklin County's female prisoners while they await transfer, McMillan said.
Hunt reported to jail Monday afternoon. About 8:10 p.m., a deputy found Hunt with a bed sheet wrapped around her neck, hanging from a shelf in her cell. She was not on a suicide watch and was waiting for a routine medical exam given to all jail inmates, McMillan said.
Tuesday, the medical examiner confirmed that Hunt died by hanging.
McMillan said jail authorities are conducting their own investigation into the suicide.
"We want to find out anything we need to do differently, if anyone needs to be disciplined," McMillan said. "But from what I know right now, there's nothing that could have been done" differently to save Hunt.
The last suicide in the city jail occurred Oct. 27, 1992, when a 30-year-old homeless man - brought in on a drunk-in-public charge - used his shirt as a noose and hanged himself from the cell's barred gate.
McMillan said his deputies stop dozens of suicide attempts by inmates each year. Since 1993, deputies have thwarted 71 suicide attempts, he said.
McMillan said he couldn't recall another female prisoner committing suicide in the more than 20 years he has worked at the jail.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB