An Inmate is Found Deceased in a Washington County Jail

In news out of Washington, officials say that a 65-year-old inmate in Pend Oreille County Jail was discovered deceased in his cell at approximately 11:45 a.m. on August 28, 2025. Newport Police Department officials said the man was found unresponsive and was not breathing. Lifesaving efforts provided by corrections staff and medical personnel were not successful. The detainee was pronounced deceased in his cell. His name has not been released.

The inmate’s cause of death is being investigated, and the Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office is working to determine the man’s cause of death.

The address of the Pend Oreille County Jail, also known as the Pend Oreille County Correctional Facility, is 230 S. Washington Ave, Newport, Washington 99156. The jail’s bed capacity is 40.

An Inmate Dies by Suicide in Pend Oreille County Correctional Facility

In some states and counties in the U.S., it is very difficult for the public or investigators outside of the law enforcement community to learn the names of deceased inmates and what caused their deaths. The Miner Newspapers reports in part of a story published on May 8, 2024, about the death of Franz Kroll that occurred in Washington’s Pend Oreille County Jail. The following are some things they learned:

On a Wednesday night in August 2022, a corrections sergeant finished the booking process for two inmates. Back in his office, the sergeant viewed the monitoring cameras that were recording all the inmates in the small jail. There were about 12 inmates at the time.
On one of the cameras, the sergeant saw that Franz Kroll was in his cell hanging from a phone cord. There are two pay phones in a common area outside two cells that all inmates have access to in the common area.
During booking, Mr. Kroll admitted that he had suicidal thoughts in the past, but not currently.
The corrections officer ran to cell 16 and removed the phone cord from Mr. Kroll’s neck, according to an incident report he wrote later.
Others joined the sergeant in lifesaving efforts. They gave Mr. Kroll cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). They also used an automated external defibrillator to try and restore Mr. Kroll’s heartbeat. Emergency Medical Services (EMS) were contacted, and when they arrived, they joined the attempt to revive him.
EMS stopped their efforts at 10:30 a.m. and declared Franz Kroll deceased on August 3, 2022.

Another report discovered results of the investigation into Mr. Kroll’s death. The following elements of the report expose several areas in which the jail did not follow protocol or in which change was needed to prevent further tragedies. The following are some of the details:

The Unexpected Fatality Report that was published about Mr. Kroll revealed that he had a moderate history of anxiety and depression. He was put under medical observation but cleared for incarceration.
The investigative team working together to determine what happened surrounding the death of Mr. Kroll looked into several factors, including operational, clinical, and structural factors.
It was noted that Mr. Kroll was housed in a cell that shares a small dayroom with one other cell. The telephone Mr. Kroll used to kill himself was in the dayroom.
The investigation revealed that inmate observations were completed through the use of CCTV, but the face-to-face rounds conducted in person were not completed.
The team of investigators noted that there were no cameras that would have allowed them to witness what Mr. Kroll was doing.

Many suggestions were made to help prevent custodial suicides.

Franz Kroll’s cause of death was asphyxia via a hanging using a ligature.

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