An inmate being held by Dane County died in the City County building this week in an apparent suicide, the county’s first since 2005.
According to a statement from Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney, county inmate Lonnie Johnson, who was being held on the 7th floor of the City-County Building on disorderly conduct and abuse charges, died in his cell Sunday night.
No other inmates witnessed Johnson’s death, but authorities who tried to resuscitate Johnson found a tied bed sheet hanging from the door to his cell in an apparent self-hanging, the statement said.
Dane County Sheriff spokesperson Elise Schaffer said there have been 124 suicide attempts in Dane County jails since the last successful attempt in January 2005.
Schaffer said special precautions, such as housing inmates in a special part of the jail and checking them every 15 minutes, are often taken to prevent suicides in the jails, but Johnson was not being held under any special watch at the time of his death.
“Unfortunately [suicide attempts] are a fairly common occurrence,” Schaffer said. “There are several prevention-type things that we do…Depending on the type of charges [inmates] might be monitored more closely.”