Trish Bennett, Editor
CIRCLEVILLE – Pickaway County Sheriff’s detectives are investigating the death by suicide Thursday of an inmate at the county jail.
Glenn J. Carlson, 43, of Bay City, Michigan, was found dead in his cell just before 11 a.m. by jail staff, according to Sheriff Robert Radcliff.
“Officers were conducting their check just prior to feeding the inmates, and he was found to have committed suicide by hanging in his cell,” Radcliff said. “Officers in the jail immediately administered CPR, along with the jail nurse, and the Circleville Fire Department arrived and transported him from the jail to Berger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.”
Carlson was arrested Sunday by the Ohio State Highway Patrol following a traffic stop, Radcliff said, where he initially gave troopers a fictitious name before they discovered his actual identity and realized he was wanted on warrants from Michigan.
“Obstructing official business was the main charge he was facing here,” Radcliff said. “Once those charges were handled, he was going to be turned over for extradition to Michigan.”
In addition to the Michigan warrants, which resulted in the charge of fugitive from justice, Carlson also faced charges from the traffic stop of display of license plates, operating a vehicle without a license, fictitious plates, no seat belt, possession of drug abuse instruments and obstructing official business.
Radcliff said Pickaway County Sheriff detectives handle suicides in the jail like a crime scene, taking photographs, collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses involved.
He said jail staff complete suicide prevention training yearly and review online suicide awareness information on the Internet frequently to try to avoid such occurrences.
“It’s always a concern of ours, especially with drug issues, but this is something we always have in the back of our minds,” Radcliff said. “We do an assessment when each inmate comes to the jail and use that assessment to determine if they need to be on suicide watch.”
Radcliff said Carlson gave no indication of being suicidal upon his arrival, and there is currently no indication in statements from inmates or officers around him that his behavior was out of the ordinary.
The incident remains under investigation, he said.
This article originally appeared on The Pickaway News Journal
