Garner Inmate’s Attempted Suicide Foiled

By Andrew Gorosko

A Garner Correctional Institution inmate who attempted to commit suicide by hanging himself inside the high-security prison at 50 Nunnawauk Road on Wednesday was prevented from killing himself when a correction officer discovered what was occurring, according to a state Department of Correction (DOC) spokesman.

DOC spokesman Andrius Banevicius said Thursday that while on a routine inspection tour of a cellblock in Garner at about 12:16 pm, the correction officer noticed that the sole occupant of a locked cell had one end of a bed sheet tied around his neck and the other end of the sheet attached to the upper level of a bunk bed in an apparent attempt to strangulate himself.

Correction officers and prison medical staffers responded to the scene and provided medical treatment to the inmate, Mr Banevicius said.

The Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps was called to the scene, after which it transported the inmate to Danbury Hospital for medical treatment, the spokesman said.

After being treated there, the inmate was returned to Garner at 9:45 pm, Mr Banevicius said. The inmate was then assigned to a specialized prison unit where he would be more closely observed than in a typical cell.

The spokesman declined to identify the inmate, other than to say that he is an unsentenced prisoner who is awaiting trial on pending charges.

Also, the cell in which the inmate was found attempting to hang himself normally holds two prisoners, but the other inmate was not in the cell at the time of the incident, Mr Banevicius said.

Garner typically holds approximately 600 male inmates.