Woman Attempts Suicide at Wake County Jail in North Carolina

April Elaine Peed Cumbo apparently attempted to commit suicide by hanging on April 9, 2018 in the Wake County Detention Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.  As of this post, it is our understanding that Ms. Cumbo is in intensive care at local hospital.  The jail indicated that it made inmate observations pursuant to State of North Carolina guidelines.

We make no allegations of any wrongdoing in this post.  Pre-trial detainees are entitled to reasonable medical care and protection from harm, caused by themselves and others, pursuant to the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.  While many states have observation standards which are less than continuous monitoring for inmates with known self-harm tendencies, anything less than continuous monitoring simply does not work.  A person can hang himself or herself, and die, in just a few minutes.

Written By: Dean Malone

Dean Malone

Dean Malone is the founder of Law Offices of Dean Malone, P.C., a jail neglect civil rights law firm. Mr. Malone earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Texas at Dallas, graduating summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA, and from Baylor University School of Law with a general civil litigation concentration. Mr. Malone served in several staff positions for the Baylor Law Review, including executive editor. Mr. Malone is an experienced trial lawyer, trying a number of cases to jury verdict and also handling arbitrations through final hearing. He heads the jail neglect section of his law firm, in which lawyers litigate cases involving serious injury and death resulting from jail neglect and abuse. Lawyers frequently refer cases to Mr. Malone due to his focus on this very complicated civil rights practice area.