Third inmate death at county jail this year; U.S. Attorney’s office seeks information
Exterior of the Washington County Correctional Facility
Darius M. Rawls
Gregory Michaux
Richard A. Kempf
Pennsylvania’s minimum standards for county jails requires inmates be provided a bed sheet, but administrators have discretion over removing bedding from an inmate “when possession of those items by the inmate could compromise the order, security or safety of the prison.”
On Thursday, the third inmate this year at Washington County jail died by suicide by hanging himself from a bed sheet in his cell.
Darius M. Rawls, 20, of 806 Crest Ave., Charleroi, was pronounced dead at Washington Hospital. Rawls – arrested Tuesday on federal drug distribution charges as part of a joint investigation by Washington County District Attorney’s Drug Task Force, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency and the U.S. attorney’s office – was the second apparent suicide at the jail in three weeks.
State law requires inmates must be given a bed, mattress, bed sheet, pillow, pillowcase, towel and blanket, but also notes when they can be revoked.
On Sept. 26, Gregory Michaux, 38, of Clarksville, was awaiting trial on aggravated assault and other charges when he was found hanging from a sheet in his cell. Michaux’s mother initiated an online fundraising effort for a private autopsy, expenses related to his Oct. 3 funeral and the initiation of a lawsuit.
On Feb. 2, Richard A. Kempf, 31, of Washington, was awaiting trial on burglary and related charges when he was also found hanging from a sheet in his cell. Kempf’s family filed a wrongful death suit against the county in May.
Commission Chairman Larry Maggi, who is also chairman of the prison board and a former state trooper and sheriff, said in a Sept. 30 story after Michaux’s death he investigated suicides that occurred both inside and outside jail.
“Sometimes you can’t stop these things,” he said. “We don’t like to see them happen, but we’re in the real world. (The jail staff does) the best they can with what they have. Unfortunately, things are going to happen. Do we take away all the sheets and blankets? I don’t think so. We don’t give them dental floss, we don’t give them shoelaces, we don’t give them belts.”
A Los Angeles Times story from 2010 called “suicide-safe” jail bedding ineffective. An inmate tore a mattress cover designed to guard against suicides into strips and used it as a noose, and other inmates chewed the stitched borders of special blankets until they could also be ripped into strips.
District Attorney Gene Vittone, a member of the county prison board, noted the deaths of Michaux and Rawls are under investigation but not by his office.
“I can’t comment beyond letting you know that there’s an investigation by the Washington police department,” Vittone said. “Once the investigations are concluded, we’ll review that information,”
Washington city police Chief Chris Luppino and Maggi did not return calls Friday seeking comment.
Warden John Temas said he was in and out of meetings Friday and declined to answer questions, instead emailing a statement shortly before 5 p.m. that jail staff on Thursday called 911 for an ambulance and city police arrived along with other emergency responders.
“The Washington County Correctional Facility is cooperating fully with the Washington city police and all other agencies involved with the investigative process,” Temas’ statement read. “The county understands that the Pennsylvania State Police may also become involved in the investigation. The county also responded to a request for information from the U.S Attorney. In addition, the Washington County Correctional Facility has initiated its own internal investigation which is in its beginning stages.”
According to a report from Washington County Coroner Tim Warco, Rawls hanged himself between 12:10 and 1:17 p.m., when the jail staff began resuscitation efforts. Rawls was pronounced dead at Washington Hospital emergency department at 2:12 p.m.
County commissioners approved an estimate from COM-TEC Security System in January 2014 to upgrade the jail security system at an approximate cost of $100,000. The update was paid for from part of the county’s allocation of the Marcellus Shale Act 13 impact fee.
At the request of the county purchasing department and Temas, the prison board and commissioners also agreed to seek bids for the replacement of digital video recorders, mounting and wiring and the addition of 35 cameras, and for uniforms.
State law regards all jail deaths as “extraordinary occurrences” and correctional facilities are required to document and report any death to both the Department of Corrections and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Susan McNaughton, press secretary for the state Department of Corrections, wrote in response to inquiry on statistics for jail deaths in counties of similar size, “Unfortunately we have had a turnover in the county prison inspections office, and that turnover resulted in the different collection of statistics and in some cases the information is not able to be broken down by county.
“The new director is aware of the importance of being able to compare like counties and is working to rectify this matter, but there is nothing we can share at this point.”
The most recent report on file with the Department of Corrections lists Washington County jail with 3,182 admissions in 2014 and 3,116 discharges supervised by a security staff of 65 full-timers and 10 part-timers. The facility has an annual budget of $7.09 million and the average cost per day per inmate is $45.47.
Washington County Correctional Facility received a string of stellar ratings from the state Department of Corrections, even in 2012 after the death of inmate Corey Adams, 35, of Canonsburg, a work-release prisoner who ingested both a powerful prescription narcotic and alcohol, according to a toxicology report. He was serving a one- to two-year work-release sentence for a third offense of drunken driving.
At the time, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections said inspections are geared toward jail policy manuals and the physical plant, checking for factors like cleanliness of the kitchen and water temperature. The death of an inmate, however, is not figured into the inspection criteria, and a coroner’s jury declined to recommend that criminal charges be filed in connection with Adams’ death. At a meeting of the prison board a few days after the inquest, Maggi said no disciplinary action was taken in connection with Adams’ death.