On Tuesday, September 19, 2017, 62-year-old Ross Frye hanged himself in his cell at Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After being discovered, he was transported to a nearby hospital, where he died that Friday. After the jail suicide, two correctional officers were suspended without pay, though details of their suspension have not been released. News outlets were informed by multiple sources that the two correctional officers were working when Frye allegedly hanged himself at about 10 a.m. According to sources from Allegheny County Jail, after the custodial death, another action taken was that an assistant director of nursing at the facility was dismissed.
Other changes were immediately set into motion, after Frye was discovered hanging in his cell. A deputy warden sent instructions to officers conducting rounds. They are now to always carry tools for cutting someone down who could be in the process of hanging themselves. The practice has been that for every two correctional officers working a pod, one carries a set of keys and one has a cut-down tool. The latest memo gives clear instructions that if one of the officers leaves to conduct rounds, the cut-down tool is to go with that officer.
Frye was alone in an intake pod when the deadly incident occurred. The deputy warden also sent a memo saying that no inmate can be housed alone in an intake pod.
Two other inmates have allegedly committed suicide at Allegheny County Jail this year, and correctional officers were fired after each instance. Another change that was made was the medical unit rounds are now done every 15 minutes rather than every 30 minutes.
Jails are not supposed to be places where people go to die. Incarcerated individuals, whether merely accused or convicted, deserve to be kept safe, even from themselves.
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