Paper: Houston Chronicle

Date: Sun 10/28/2007

Section: B Page: 4 Edition: 4 STAR

City jail inmate found hanged in holding cell / Records indicate he was depressed, had mental illness

By JENNIFER LEAHY, LINDSAY WISE

Staff

A 46-year-old man apparently hanged himself with shoelaces Saturday morning in a city jail holding cell, police said.

John David Perdue, whose booking information says had multiple personality disorder and was suffering from depression, was found by a jailer around 9:45 a.m. in the jail at 61 Riesner. He was hanging from laces tied to a steel grate covering a window, said Capt. Bruce Williams.

In the holding area are two toilet stalls, one shielded from view and one in the open. The man was found, unresponsive and slumped over, in the toilet area shielded from view in a first-level holding cell.

Though Fire Department paramedics attempted CPR and used a defibrillator, Perdue was pronounced dead at the scene around 10:10 a.m.

It is unknown if the shoelaces were his or were obtained elsewhere, Williams said, adding that everyone booked into the jail is searched during intake.

Look for signs of illness

"But unless there is a profession of suicidal tendencies, belts and shoelaces are not taken from inmates, " Williams said.

He also said that even though some inmates are known to have mental illnesses they are placed in the general jail population unless they are visibly "manifesting" their illness.

"We put people who are intoxicated in jail all of the time. And unless there are some articulated facts, some statement of an intent to commit suicide, nothing is altered," Williams said.

Perdue was arrested just before 1 a.m. during a traffic stop on Ewing in south Houston for possession of a controlled substance, believed to be cocaine, and booked into the jail.

According to county records, Perdue had previously been arrested on drug possession charges in December 2006 and received two years of probation, which was to end in January 2009.

Clinic was visited

At 3:45 a.m. Saturday, Perdue was sent to the clinic, Williams said. "At this time it's unclear whether this was at his request or at the request of jail personnel," he said.

Perdue was placed back in the holding cell around 4:17 a.m.

It is unknown what time he entered the toilet area and what time he hanged himself.

As many as 20 other inmates were in the cell at the time. All were interviewed.

The jail houses Class C offenders held on municipal charges and Class B and above offenders awaiting transfer to the county jail system.

Williams declined to speculate on whether potentially overcrowded conditions contributed to the death.

As is customary with in-custody deaths, Homicide and Internal Affairs officers, and the county district attorney's office are investigating.

The exact cause of death is pending determination by the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office.

Texas law also requires all agencies to file a custodial death report with the state Attorney General's Office any time an in-custody death occurs.

 

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