A Hailey man who died last week after hanging himself at the Blaine County jail was not segregated from other inmates and was in a cell not equipped for video surveillance, according to information released Monday by the Blaine County Sheriff's Office.
Jail Administrator Lt. Jay Davis said 35-year-old Matthew Wayne Cherry had given no indication that he may be suicidal.
Cherry died Wednesday, April 27, at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise after hanging himself at the jail on the afternoon of Monday, April 25.
Cherry's death was the second suicide by hanging at the new Blaine County Public Safety Facility since its opening in 2008.
In the earlier suicide, a tort claim has been filed against Blaine County and the Sheriff's Office by the family of Cody John Finch, a 23-year-old Fairfield man who hanged himself to death at the jail on Oct. 17, 2009. The tort claim, a precursor to a possible lawsuit, alleges that Finch's death was caused by "gross negligence and malice."
Matthew Cherry
In an interview Monday, Davis released new information regarding Cherry's death that was not available to the public last week.
He said Cherry was being held in Cell Block 500, an area of two-man cells with a commons area accessible to all inmates in the cell block. Each cell has a door with a window. Inmates can close the door if they like, as Cherry did prior to hanging himself. Davis said only the commons area and not the individual cells in the block are covered by video surveillance.
Davis said Cherry was the sole occupant of his cell when he hanged himself on April 25. He was last seen by a deputy at about 3:30 p.m. and was discovered about 12 minutes later by another inmate who happened to look through the window into Cherry's cell.
Davis and other detention center staff rushed to Cherry's cell and tried to revive him. They were followed by Wood River Fire & Rescue emergency medical technicians. Cherry was not breathing and had no heartbeat, but EMTs were able to establish a heartbeat using drugs and electrical shock.
Cherry was never able to breath on his own and never regained consciousness. He died the afternoon of April 27 after being taken off life support systems at Saint Alphonsus.
Davis said the incident was traumatic to personnel who tried to save Cherry's life.
"We're doing OK, but there's no way I can sit here and tell you that it does not affect us," Davis said.
Cherry had only been in jail a few days, having been arrested by Hailey police on April 23 on a felony charge of attempted strangulation for allegedly assaulting his wife.
"There was nothing for us to think that he might be suicidal," Davis said.
Davis said an internal investigation is being conducted and he is looking for an outside agency to conduct an external review.
"Preliminarily, we see that all of the procedures were properly followed," Davis said.
Cody Finch
In Idaho, anyone contemplating a lawsuit against a government entity is required to file a tort claim prior to filing a suit. Such a claim was filed in April 2010 by JaNel Kandler, Finch's mother, about six months after his death.
Kandler alleged in the claim that the Sheriff's Office acted with "gross negligence and malice" by placing Finch in a situation "where he was not monitored by staff in a way that would prevent him from killing himself."
She further alleged that Finch's mental-health medication was altered at the jail, "which caused him to have suicidal thoughts."
Kandler is seeking $50,000 in damages as well as attorney fees.
Hailey attorney Douglas Nelson, who is representing Kandler and the Finch family, said Monday that it hasn't been determined yet whether a lawsuit will be filed.
"They do not want money, they want to fix the jail," Nelson said. "The intent of any lawsuit filed on Cody's behalf is to get some sort of remedy at the jail. You're never going to completely eliminate the risk, but you can make it less likely.
"It's too bad that something didn't happen before this new suicide."
Sheriff Gene Ramsey said Tuesday that the Sheriff's Office has reviewed Kandler's allegations but that he is unable to comment because of the possibility of litigation.
Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com
Matthew Wayne Cherry
