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Two inmates in the Kosciusko County Jail attempted suicide Sunday morning.
According to a Kosciukso County Sheriff's Department report, a jail officer found the first inmate sitting by the partition post at a slight angle, as if leaning on it, around 2 a.m. The officer then noticed the inmate had a shirt wrapped around his neck. Officers cut the shirt off and laid the inmate on the floor. EMS was called and the inmate was transported to Kosciusko Community Hospital. Two witnesses to the attempted suicide were placed in the holding tank.
That inmate is still in KCH as of this morning but is doing fine, according to Kosciusko County Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine.
While the EMS personnel were attending to the first victim, one of the inmates who had been a witness then tried to hang himself with his pants. He was found on the floor semi-conscious. EMS was called for him and he was stabilized and transported to KCH as a precautionary measure. He has since been returned to the county jail.
Rovenstine said six of the 145 inmates in the county jail over the weekend were on suicide watch and only three jailers were on duty when the incidents occurred.
"Under the circumstances," said Rovenstine, "they (the jailers) handled everything (fine). They responded quickly" and saved both lives.
He said the problem goes back to there not being enough help at the jail. Two of the three jailers were assisting another man on suicide watch shower and shave when the first suicide attempt was discovered Sunday, Rovenstine said. When EMS arrived for the first suicide attempt, he said, the second suicidal inmate then decided to try to kill himself in all the confusion.
"They were unsuccessful attempts, thank goodness," Rovenstine said.
