Sunday, May 29, 2011
EKB Capsule News...West Virginia...5-30-'11
- The search for inmate Randall McGonagle, 38, of Mercer County, who escaped during work release ended when he was captured at the Marcum Terrace Apartments in Huntington Saturday night. West Virginia State Police Trooper R.N. Blankenship says McGonagle tried to hide, but later surrendered without incident. He had been on the run since he left the center on a two hour pass on May 14th and never returned. McGonagle is in jail for forgery and uttering out of Mercer County and was sentenced to 1-10 years.
- Huntington Police arrested Carsel Adkins and charged him with kidnapping after he took a 2 year old boy from the home of his estranged wife, the boy's grandmother, on Oney Avenue around 10:20 P.M. Saturday night. The woman told police Adkins threatened to kill her if she tried to stop him. When deputies showed up at Adkins' home on Route 1 in the East Lynn area, they found both Adkins and the toddler.
- John Lopez, acting chief of operations for the Regional Jail Authority, says 59 prisoners in the regional jails have attempted to kill themselves in the past 17 months. West Virginia's regional jail system has recorded three suicides since the start of 2010. Texas pastor Matthew Jarrell was found hanged May 21st in his cell at South Central Regional Jail after being accused of sexual assault. Lopez said the other suicides were at the Tygart Valley Regional Jail in Belington and the Western Regional Jail in Barboursville. Lopez says prisoners are screened for potential suicide risks based on the charges, past criminal behavior, drug abuse, including alcohol, and for a history of mental illness. Lindsay M. Hayes, author of the "National Study of Jail Suicides: 20 Years Later," says the first several days of confinement are critical, often for first-time offenders. According to the study, 24 percent of prison suicides in the United States occur during the first 24 hours of incarceration, 27 percent occur between the second and 14th days, and 20 percent occur between one and four months.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 10:22 PM 
