SHANNON GOURNEAU

FEMALE INMATE DIES IN COLSTRIP CITY JAIL

By The Associated Press
08/24/06

COLSTRIP (AP) — A 32-year-old woman arrested here last week on suspicion of public intoxication died while in custody at the city jail, Colstrip Police Chief Larry Reinlasoder said.

Shannon Gourneau’s death appears to be a suicide, he said.

Gourneau was arrested at about 7:45 p.m. on Aug. 16, after police received reports of an intoxicated woman on Highway 39. She was nearly hit by several vehicles, Reinlasoder said.

Gourneau was being held in a cell at the police department’s 72-hour holding facility when she was found unconscious by an officer at about 11:45 p.m., Reinlasoder said. Gourneau was alone in the cell, he said.

She was pronounced dead a short time later at the Colstrip Medical Clinic.

Reinlasoder said the investigation is ongoing, but it appears she used her jail-issued pants to commit suicide by tying the pants to the cell bars.

Gourneau did not indicate that she was suicidal, and an officer had checked on her about 10 minutes before she was found unconscious, Reinlasoder said.

UNNAMED MALE INMATE

RAVALLI COUNTY REPORTS ANOTHER JAIL SUICIDE

By The Associated Press Saturday, May 21, 2005

HAMILTON (AP) — An inmate at the Ravalli County jail died Friday afternoon of an apparent suicide, the third hanging death at the jail in the past two months.

Sheriff Chris Hoffman said detention officers found the male inmate hanging in his cell shortly before noon and immediately started CPR. Ambulance personnel took over and he was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The victim's name is being withheld until his family can be notified.

Hoffman has asked the Missoula County sheriff's department to investigate the death. Powell County Coroner John Pohle has also been called in.

The death is the third by hanging at the jail in the past two months. Ryan Heath, 27, of Hamilton hanged himself on April 23 and Bradley Palin, 42, of Victor, hanged himself on March 21.

Hoffman said a press conference will be held Monday afternoon at the sheriff's office.

RODNEY SATTLER

PRISON SUICIDES ADDING UP

An IR Veiw
Tuesday, February 03, 2004

Suicides tend to come in clumps, as people who deal with troubled young people know to their sorrow, and it seems to be the case in prison as well.

Montana State Prison officials said Rodney Sattler, a death-row inmate convicted of two separate murders, was found hanging in his cell at about 4 a.m. Monday. It was the forth prison suicide since July, and in each case the inmate used torn cloth and/or shoelaces to hang himself from ceiling air vents.

Until last year, no one had committed suicide at the Deer Lodge prison since 1991, although there have been more than 20 attempts since the beginning of 2002.

In some sense, suicide in the dreadful confines of a penitentiary might be understandable - particularly on death row, where the despair of counting the days must be overwhelming. Some darker part of ourselves may also ask whether such an outcome is better for everybody involved, including the taxpayers.

But that darker side is unacceptable, particularly because people with mental illnesses - often undiagnosed - are making up a larger portion of the prison population. Rising suicides are seen as an indicator of a prison's deeper problems.

Officials at Deer Lodge are well aware of this, and are in the process of increasing training on suicide warning signs, turning to shoes without laces, and providing gowns and sheets made of tear- resistant material. Warden Mike Mahoney said last November that the prison also is considering changes in the design of vent covers, installation of cameras in cells dedicated to higher-risk inmates, and more random cell checks.

Department of Corrections Director Bill Slaughter said Monday that there is no indication that the recent suicides are part of a pact among prisoners, but clearly, as news of each new death circulates, the concept is in the air. We hope the prison moves quickly to implement all the preventative measures it can before this latest clump gets bigger.

DOUGLAS TURNER
JON LEBEAU
KEVIN OSMANSON

NO WRONG ACTIONS IN INMATE SUICIDES

Wednesday, January 21, 2004
Montana
By BOB ANEZ
Associated Press Writer
01/21/04

DEER LODGE — A coroner's jury on Tuesday concluded unanimously that three inmates found hanging in their cells at the Montana State Prison last summer committed suicide, and that there was no criminal act in their deaths.

In each case, the prisoners used torn bed sheets or shoelaces that were fashioned into nooses. The deaths involved one inmate on death row, another who was found to have a potentially lethal dose of drugs in his body, and one with mental illness and a history of attempted suicide.

The six-member coroner's jury returned three separate decisions that the deaths of Douglas Turner, Jon LeBeau and Kevin Osmanson, which occurred over a 70-day period last summer, all were suicides. A coroner's inquest is required whenever an inmate's death is not the result of a terminal illness or execution.

The suicides, which were the first at the prison near Deer Lodge since 1991, prompted corrections officials to make changes at the prison, including increased surveillance and more training for staff in spotting suicidal symptoms in inmates.

The deaths began with the July 8 suicide of Turner, who was found hanged in his death-row cell. LeBeau was found dead Sept. 1 in his maximum-security cell and Osmanson hanged himself Sept. 15. Turner and LeBeau secured their makeshift ropes, intricately torn, woven and knotted, to the grill on an air circulation vent in each of their cells. Osmanson used s shoelace tied to a coat rack.

On Tuesday, jurors questioned the unusually high level of Zoloft, an anti-depressant, found in LeBeau's system. But a psychiatrist from the prison testified that inmates typically were given a 28-day supply of such a relatively safe drug and allowed to medicate themselves.

Dr. David Schaefer testified that overdoses with the drug seldom result in death. He cited statistics showing a death rate of about 1 percent in such cases.

Dr. Gary Dale, the state medical examiner, said LeBeau died of strangulation from the homemade noose and not from the drug in his blood. While the large amount of Zoloft indicated LeBeau wanted to harm himself, ‘‘there's no guarantee that you're going to die with that concentration of drug in your system,'' he said.

LeBeau, who had the AIDS virus and hepatitis C, killed himself the week before he was to be sentenced for murdering another inmate at the privately owned Crossroads Correction Center in Shelby last year. In prison for burglary and forgery since 1996, the 32-year-old LeBeau faced a possible death sentence for the behind-bars killing.

Turner, who was on death row for helping beat to death a fellow inmate in 1990, left handwritten letters in his cell indicating he had planned to take his own life, testimony showed.

In a note to his attorney William Hooks, Turner wrote, ‘‘In case you otherwise haven't heard, I'm dead. I've killed myself.''

He used the same words in a note to an aunt, adding, ‘‘I'm not in distress or suffering in (a) bout of depression or under any other special pressure. I simply decided it was time.''

Jeff Crowe, prison investigator, said a search of Turner's cell after the body was removed turned up a second noose fashioned from torn bed sheets, along with five shoes with the laces missing.

Jurors questioned why inmates were allowed to have so many laced shoes in their cells. Crowe said the policy has been changed for inmates in maximum-security cells.

Robert Harmon, the guard who first determined something was wrong in Turner's cell during a routine security check, said he saw Turner standing near the sink about 3 a.m. and noticed the inmate was in the same position an hour later.

When Turner, 31, did not respond to his name or raps on the cell door's window, Harmon called for assistance. Those entering the cell and cutting Turner's body down said Turner already appeared dead and had no pulse.

Drew Schoening, a prison psychologist who evaluated Osmanson when he arrived at the prison five days before his death, testified he was aware the inmate had attempted suicide before and diagnosed him with depression.

He prescribed an anti-depressant and ordered Osmanson held in the infirmary for observation. Schoening said he takes extra precautions with inmates he doesn't know well.

Yet he testified that he released Osmanson the next day because his mood seemed to have dramatically improved.

‘‘He was ready to get back on his feet and pick up the pieces,'' Schoening said. ‘‘He was not hopeless or despondent. Those were the things I was looking for.''

While maintaining he and the prison staff gave Osmanson the appropriate level of mental health care, Schoening acknowledged that a person's suicidal tendency is tough to measure.

Frank Joseph and Dave Vicevich, Butte attorneys for Osmanson's widow Michelle, said they attended the inquest to determine for themselves if there was any negligence by the state in Osmanson's suicide.

Osmanson, 24, originally was sentenced to a prerelease center on drug charges. He escaped for 20 days and was sent to prison when captured just five days before his death.

FACTOR 8: THE ARKANSAS PRISON BLOOD SCANDAL

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