RODNEY W. BACCHUES

Posted on Tue, Feb. 08, 2005
By Kristen A. Graham
Inquirer Staff Writer

ANOTHER PSYCHIATRIC INMATE HANGS HIMSELF

He had been convicted of assaulting an infant.
The hanging was the second in the county's mental-health unit in a month.

The second inmate in a month - and the third in just over a year - has died in the Camden County Correctional Facility's psychiatric ward.

Rodney W. Bacchues, 37, of Camden, died at Cooper University Hospital on Sunday, two days after hanging himself from a bunk bed in his cell, Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi said yesterday.

Bacchues, who was alone in his cell, was discovered unconscious at 7:11 a.m. Friday. He had tied shoelaces to the upper part of a bunk and around his neck, then slouched to put pressure on his throat, authorities said.

He did not regain consciousness before his death.

Assistant County Medical Examiner Ian Hood performed an autopsy and ruled the death a suicide by hanging.

Bacchues was the second inmate to commit suicide in the ward this year. A third was slain in January 2004.

Bacchues faced up to 30 years in prison after a jury convicted him Thursday of aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child. In February 2003, he stuffed a wad of gauze down his infant son's throat and inflicted multiple skull and rib fractures.

The child, developmentally disabled as a result of the injuries, is living out of state with relatives.

The Prosecutor's Office is investigating the death, but Bill Shralow, a spokesman for Sarubbi, said he did not expect charges to be filed.

County officials had few answers yesterday.

County spokesman Ken Shuttleworth would not say why Bacchues had been placed in the mental-health wing, when guards had last seen him, or whether he had been on suicide watch.

"We're not going to comment on anything related to the substance of this investigation until we get the results of our own investigation," he said.

Guards are supposed to check inmates in the mental-health wing every 15 minutes, according to jail protocol.

Shuttleworth did say County Administrator Ross Angilella, in conjunction with warden Eric Taylor, would scrutinize procedures in the wing "to potentially improve things."

"Maybe there is no need to improve anything. Maybe it's perfect as it is," Shuttleworth said. "But there is a great deal of attention being paid to it right now."

On Jan. 8, Christopher Miller, 22, of Waterford, hanged himself in the ward. The other three men in the cell were asleep or unaware of his actions, authorities have said.

No criminal charges were filed in Miller's death, and a county investigation found that the guards on duty had done nothing wrong.

The results of a final investigation in the death are due March 15.

On Jan. 27, 2004, Joel Seidel, a 65-year-old, mentally ill former stockbroker from Cherry Hill, was allegedly beaten, choked and stomped to death by Marvin Lister, a cell mate with a history of mental illness and violence.

It was later discovered that guards had falsified records after Seidel's death and failed to check on his cell for up to 53 minutes.

After Seidel's death, a panel of experts determined that the severely overcrowded jail, which is in Camden, needed to "provide more secure and appropriate care of mentally ill offenders."

Seidel's death, the panel said, was an opportunity for improvements. It called for changes in oversight, training, record-keeping and staffing.

"Most important in realizing this new opportunity will be the crafting of solutions that are sustainable over time so that reforms and new initiatives do not fade away and do not need to be restudied and reinitiated following a future tragedy," the report concluded.

Jail officials have said they are working to ease crowding and have stepped up oversight at the mental-health unit.

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