Earl Alexander Dies in Washington’s Thurston County Jail
In Washington news, an inmate who was discovered unresponsive in his cell on Sunday was later pronounced deceased and was identified by the Thurston County Coroner’s Office.
Inmate Earl Alexander II was discovered unresponsive in Thurston County Jail at about 12:20 p.m. on Sunday, September 7, 2025. Sheriff’s deputies and fire department personnel were dispatched to the jail. On-site medical staff and corrections deputies provided lifesaving measures until emergency medical services (EMS) medics arrived. The Olympian reported that despite lifesaving efforts, fire personnel pronounced Earl Alexander deceased in his cell.
An autopsy was completed on Tuesday. The coroner said that the cause of death was not immediately known.
The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office asked the Region 3 Critical Incident Investigation Team to conduct an independent review of Mr. Alexander’s death. The investigation will be led by the Mason County Sheriff’s Office.
The address of the Thurston County Jail is 2000 Lakeridge Dr SW, Olympia, WA 98502. The jail has a maximum bed capacity of 425.
An Inmate is Saved from Suicide in Thurston County Jail
Suicide being the leading cause of death in municipal and county jails, it is good news when jail staff manage to rescue inmates from suicide. The most common method of suicide in jails is by hanging.
A rescue from suicide by hanging happened at the Thurston County Jail on May 1, 2025. A deputy was conducting a routine cell check when he noticed something odd. He entered an inmate’s cell and interrupted a suicide attempt by hanging. He rendered aid, and the inmate was transported to a hospital. The inmate was medically cleared, sent back to the jail, and placed on suicide watch. This usually means that observations of inmates on suicide watch are conducted very frequently. Sometimes, constant observation is necessary.
One study about custodial suicides showed that hangings in the jail setting result in death more slowly than you might think—at about 8 to 10 minutes. With that being the case, providing supervision properly, as opposed to missing inmate checks, could potentially prevent many more custodial suicides from occurring.
A Seattle Jail had an “Astronomical” Suicide Rate in 2022
When Allen Duane McNutt, 59, died by suicide on August 2, 2022, he became the fifth person that year to die by suicide in Seattle’s downtown jail. Two other inmates died of other causes that year. Better known as the King County Correctional Facility, the downtown jail came under scrutiny for its custodial suicide rate. And the situation begged the question, “Why does this facility have such a high rate of suicides?
The lack of in-person visitation had meant that inmates were alone in their cells for more than 23 hours per day. The average daily jail population and length of stay in the downtown jail increased to more than 1,200 inmates.
Family members of inmates with mental illnesses became concerned that they were not allowed to visit their loved ones. The lack of a robust mental and behavioral health system in the city meant that being arrested and sent to jail provided the best access to help.
Four of the suicide deaths had one thing in common. They were in single cells. Three of the suicides since August of the previous year involved bunks. The bunks provide a means for inmates to hang themselves. Though the jail began retrofitting those bunks, the project was set to be finished sometime in 2023.
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