BOBBY RAY JARRELL

By JULIAN WALKER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Thursday, Jun 07, 2007

INMATE FOUND DEAD IN CHESTERFIELD JAIL

Officials are Investigating; Prisoner Faced Drug-related Count

Attorney Michael Morchower left the Chesterfield County Jail around 11:19 a.m. yesterday after briefly meeting with a client. Six hours later, inmate Bobby Ray Jarrell was found dead in the same room where he had met with Morchower.

Jarrell, 49, had hanged himself using a shoelace and a phone cord. His body wasn't discovered until 5:15 p.m. when an inmate head-count done by deputies revealed a prisoner was missing.

"He was in fine spirits when I left," Morchower said of Jarrell. "We strategized about his case; I spent 15 or 20 minutes with him. . . . Obviously I'm shocked."

Jarrell, who lived in the 900 block of Kingsland Road in eastern Henrico near the James River, turned himself in at the county jail on June 4. His case on a cocaine-related charge was pending in court. He was being held without bond.

Chesterfield Sheriff Dennis S. Proffitt said authorities are investigating Jarrell's suicide to determine if there was any criminal negligence and whether jail procedures were followed.

Proffitt said the key question is why Jarrell was not escorted back to his housing unit after meeting with his attorney. "I deeply feel sympathy for the family," he added. "Loss of life is a tragic thing no matter what."

Proffitt said Jarrell was not on suicide watch and had not been deemed a risk to himself.

Chesterfield changed its policy in September 2006 to allow inmates to wear sneakers with laces. Prior to that, inmates were only allowed to wear jail-issued loafers.

Morchower said Jarrell's family hired him on Monday evening, adding he was "confident with the probability that [Jarrell] was going to be exonerated."

Morchower previously represented Jarrell on a traffic matter about 20 years ago.

Jarrell's next scheduled court date was June 27 in Chesterfield Circuit Court.

Morchower said jail suicides show that "the pressure inmates are under is enormous. . . . The environment is a living hell."

According to a 2005 study by the U.S. Department of Justice, the suicide rate of inmates in local jails fell from 129 per 100,000 in 1983 to 47 per 100,000 in 2002.

Proffitt said the last time a Chesterfield inmate hanged himself was Sept. 6, 2003. A bedsheet was used. Chesterfield opened its current jail in May 2006. The 155-bed facility replaced the old jail, which was built in the 1950s. It houses about 320 inmates.

Contact staff writer Julian Walker at (804) 649-6831 or jwalker@timesdispatch.com

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