Following a Jail Suicide, 2 Sheriff’s Deputies are Reprimanded
On April 30, 2017, 32-year-old inmate Ryan Groot was found hanging by a bed sheet from his Sandusky County Jail cell in Ohio. He was discovered at approximately 11 p.m., when a routine hourly bed check was being conducted by a corrections officer. The inmate was transported to a Toledo hospital, where he died three days later. Two corrections deputies were reprimanded in connection with the inmate suicide, due to findings in an internal investigation report. Sheriff Chris Hilton released the report on June 23, 2017. It was found that the violations the deputies committed could not be established as determining factors or as having a role in Groot’s death.
One of the deputies was reprimanded for failure to request a cell check before 10:32 p.m. the night of the suicide. According to the report, the minimum state standard of performing a cell check within 60 minutes of the previous check was violated.
The second deputy followed a past practice, for which he was reprimanded. He used the previous shift’s end count on the jail population as his beginning population count. The current policy is to conduct a population count within 30 minutes of the start and end of each shift.
Both deputies had reprimands placed in their personnel files.
A primary reason the deputies weren’t held responsible for Groot’s death, according to Hilton, was that there was evidence which strongly suggested Groot was very determined to succeed at suicide. On the day he was found hanged, he allegedly wrote and mailed a letter to his girlfriend expressing that he would not fail to end his life in jail. He referenced his own brother’s failed attempt at suicide in the Seneca County Jail, saying he would succeed.
–Guest Contributor
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