I've heard the jail staff did put this guy on one of those watches and had him talk to the crisis people. The guy claimed over and over that he was not going to kill himself so the crisis people eventually took him off of it. Couple weeks later he pulls a very selfish and cowardly move and kills himself anyways. If that is the case not much anyone can do in that situation. Sounds like a fair amount of you have done some time there and are just harboring resentment that you got caught, others just plain owe an apology.

truecitizen, you hit the nail on the head. That particular poster chastizes anyone who disagrees with her. Just ignore them. It's easier anyway, since I've tried to give up reading 3rd grade grammar.

You're lost, and you don't have a clue. You probably did time yourself and you just want to sound off against anyone who has a uniform. Unless you worked as a jailer, you should not be negative towards them. This Smith guy was not suicidal or he would have been on a suicide watch. How dare you judge those who work on their jobs, if you are not right there next to them. I know lots of people who have been in jail, and they always talk about how they got their kicks from causing as much grief for the jailers as they could.

if the guys intake papers said could be a harm to himself they dang well should of watched him around the clock but because they did not not he is dead. so you can talk all you want about the jailers and they did everything right but the truth is the jailers do not give a crap about the inmates in there it is just nice paying job and a power trip in there

Serenity381....I did my homework too. This guy was in punitive or administrative segregation. That's why he was by himself. Inmates probably don't sleep in the hallways or common areas of the housing units either. Many articles have come out about the overcrowding. They have been sleeping on floors in the worker's units. Thats all. What does overcrowding have to do with this suicide of a segregated or punitive inmate?
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Interesting you should bring up the 1996 suicide....I know all about it. Officers did nothing wrong. The report of the booking question was an abused report. That officer did follow-up some, and the inmate (then) claimed he was not currently suicidal. He waited for his cellmate to go to court and hung himself after shift change count was done. Inmates found him after being let out of their cells shortly thereafter.....again they can do it if they really want to.
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Of course the girlfriend and mother of his children tried to sue for the incident. She of course did not tell any authorities when the guy repeatedly told her by phone he was going to kill himself, even though he didn't warn staff during those six days. She could have reported the disturbing phone calls, but didn't.

im sure if he was on suicide watch they would have been monitoring him, but since he was in a unit he was not considered a suicide threat im sure. they have doctors and crisis workers evaluating these people i would imagine when they enter the jail and if one becomes suicidal they would take proper action at least i hope. they are trained professionals so dont judge unless u kno the facts of the incident not all suicidal inmates announce they are suicidal im guessing and im sure thats what happened in this case good night

no you act you age wow still an idiot

snowman sorry if the TRUTH hurts you but i lived through it. so act you age not your shoe size

snowman, I sure hope you're not part of the law, we pay for! YIKES.

snowman, You're the IDIOT! Yes, if he's suicidal, they had BETTER be babysitting him all night long! Put your uncaring brain back in your head.Duh.

hey weezer r u sleeping with usacitizen??????sure sounds and looks like it!!!!!!!!!shame on u to

oh btw way a small charge.......he stabbed someone in the face with a knife boy now thats a small charge....NOT hey citizen would u like a knife in the face? i bet not. wake up

usacitizen ur such an idiot u want the staff to sit and babysit him all night long get a grip.

They "missed" that he wanted to kill himself!!! What a bunch of inept people!

What is it with this Rock county jail? This is terrible!! A young guy in there for such a small charge and this happens! SHAME on the Rock County jail STAFF.

they dont pay attention they missed on his intake papers that he wanted to harm himself for 24hrs then thats when they put him in a cell by himself. they were the judge that day

weezer - i think that is horrible and i believe something like that happened, i know that jail is not suppose to be a pleasant experience but the living conditions in rock county are horrible, people sleeping on the floor guards looking the other way. now people dying under their watch. i said this before this is a small jail not a huge prison, and people who want to kill themselves normally display signs they want to do and if they were paying attention to this young man they maybe could of prevented this

I know for a FACT rock cty has been informed by family about another inmate wanted to kill himself all they did was put him a cell by HIMSELF and 48 hrs later he was DEAD!!!!!

Thank you JJackson. I am not sure how the jail works, I just thought that it was probably the like at the hospital(at a nursing level). Meaning that when one shift leaves and another begins, it starts with one informing the other of what happened the last shift. I just assumed it would be like that at the jail. You can't just walk in there and not know what has been going on so you can prepare for your shift.

JvilleMomandDad

I should also let you know that on the Secure Side of the Jail, only 1 unit has 1 camera in 1 cell within that facility, not including Huber. Maybe the inmate that committed suicide was not assigned to that 1 cell. So maybe you should use your own advice and know the facts before you speak them!!!

JvilleMomandDad,

For your information I work in Law Enforcement and know a lot more information about the jail than you could imagine. However, I am not going sit here and tell you how the checks or shift change is conducted at the Rock County Jail because I am not going to jeopardize the security of the facility, staff and inmates. However, I will tell you that Wisconsin State Statue States that Unit Security Checks must be conducted every 60 minutes. In addition, Officers attend briefing at 1030pm that takes about 15-20 minutes then they relieve the prior shift. And that's all I'm going to say about that. So since you're so smart I'll let you figure out the rest !!!!

++If I stand correct, The Officers isn't changing shifts at 11:34. Yes some inmates do study the schedules of officers, however, I don't think that happened in this case++

In response to this JJackson's quote, yes that is right around shift change at 11pm. Usually they run their first checks around that time. If you knew anything about how the jail runs, you would know that.

StoughtonMom--yes they have cameras, but they do not look right into the cell. So there would have been no way to see what he was doing. So again, before you bash the hard working people out there, saying they aren't doing their jobs, know your facts.

Trish,
In 1996 there was an inmate that was arrested and booked at the jail. While he was being booked he was asked a series of questions as are all inmates. One of the questions states. " Are you or have you ever considered suicide" the inmate answered yes he had or he was. The result of a yes answer is that the booking officer is to immediately contact the commanding officer in charge to do an evaluation of the inmate. In this particular situation NO commanding officer was EVER contacted. The inmate was put into population and the questionaire was filed. No follow up until the man died in his cell six days later. Hanging by a bed sheet. In this case a guard should have helped him and didn't. The result....Suicide. This man died at 3:34pm. Same thing. Just after shift change and he too was in his cell alone.
My question is this...The jails are overcrowded, inmates sleeping in the halls on the floor and yet this young man committs suicide in a cell that he had to himself??? Time for someone to answer some questions.
My heart and prayers go out to this young man's family. What a tradegy. Maybe his parents should hire a lawyer and have question 13 on the questionaire investigated. Hope I am wrong.

What was the officer to inmate ratio in Lacrosse County? Numbers do help the employees, but it still can't stop all the attempts and successful suicides...It's a rough business isn't it?

Sounds like you think I was talking about you (nrhall33), wasn't though, I was talking about the other person. You said it right.

No I'm not a jailer in Rock Co, but I was a jailer in La Crosse County for 9 years and I have been involved with a couple jail suicides and it's tough on staff...the general public does not realize the difficulty of the job. I am now a police officer and I have my jail experience to thank for making the transition successful for me.

I know for a fact that the jail staff and supervisors are always scrambling after these 'suicidal' inmates. The crisis people from the Rock County Crisis, are always going over there to speak with these inmates. That tells me, if the guy would have notified anyone of his thoughts, then they would have been scrambling after (him) before he could act, also.
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I can't imagine how many false alarms and attention getting inmates there must be in that place.
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"8-9 officers...500 plus inmates" wow...how would you like that job?! I bet these officers get paid well too--yea right? Too bad this kid didn't tell someone, I feel bad for his family.

nrhall33 / paytoomuchtax.....Thank you for correcting some others (stoughtonmom). How can an outsider be so convicting of the staff? Were you in there lady?
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I like how people are blaming first line staff and not even mentioning the need for more first line staff...who's fault would that be?
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Come on...Cameras? Why would they put those in general population cells? If an inmate wants to do this, they can and they will. How can it be stopped 100%? Sad but true.

JJackson, you are probably right. But, they do say he was found at that time. If shift change was before..say new shift starts at 11. They get there, get an update from the staff leaving and then do their rounds...seems it could fall around that time, in that case. Anyways, in another article, it does say he was in a cell by himself. So, that would rule out foul play, I would assume. I also think I remember them calling it C something and that it was med. security.

I think what ljs64 was trying to say was that the coroner's statement sounded like she was stating the obvious. That was my first impression, too, when I read the article.

Trish,

If I stand correct, The Officers isn't changing shifts at 11:34. Yes some inmates do study the schedules of officers, however, I don't think that happened in this case. One question to ask though is did he have a cellmate or was he in a cell by himself? Also what was his answers on the Medical Pre-Admission Form "Have you ever attempted suicide?" and "Are you having suicidal thoughts now?" No one knows for sure why the inmate committed suicide. I do hope that the Officers working that particular unit where this tragedy occurred throughout the time that inmate was there, did their Security Checks because everything will be scrutinized.

Scott, Do you have any stats on how many inmates have tried to hurt themselves that the guards were able to stop/save? It sure would be nice if people could see that many people come in there depressed with what they did to get themselves there and do try to hurt themselves and the guards see the signs and are able to help them.

One less drain on the taxpayers. Obviously he had problems, but many do. Really tired of everyone thinking that their problems are OUR problems and we need to carry the burden.

Stoughtonmom,

Maybe you should stick to something you know about. This was not the fault of the officers this person choose to end there life. They know when the gaurds are around and when there not. There is to many inmates to gaurds for them to watch them every minute. This was just a riddiculous post on your part. The garuds do a great job of taking care of the inmate do we ever here about those that are saved because they saved one a few days before this but they didn't get praise for that. Walk a mile in there shoes before you say something stupid like that again.

When someone wants to kill themselves in custody...they wait for the best opprotunity and if they are seriuos this is the result...Jailers can only do so much

Actually, I will correct myself. They do not have any cameras in the housing units in the portion of the jail that this particular individual was kept. I believe they do in the huber part of the jail.

They do not have any cameras in the inmate housing units, let alone each individual cell.
Those that think there should be, would be the first ones to complain when the budget for the jail increases to supply 160+ cameras and staff to monitor them. This happened on the third shift and they have what 8-9 officers watching over 500 inmates. If someone really wants to kill themself there is not much anybody can do about, the ones that get found trying something are the ones that hope to get found.

Look at the time he did it and then look at the shift changes at the jail. Perhaps this young man had been there long enough to know when the officers going off duty were giving reports to the oncoming officers? Just a thought.

i agree staff should of caught this, this is not some large prison it is a small jail and it does have cameras but apparently not enough of them i see

Do you think there's a camera on every inmate?

lhjs...how long did ya think your comment was gonna stay up?

Rock County has cameras to watch their inmates. How could something like this happen if the officers were doing their job? I mean this as no disrespect to Rock County, but someone should have seen this happening before the inmate had time to even tie the second knot!