Clark County jail inmate apparently hangs self

Keith Paul

Thursday, Dec. 7, 2000 | 11:13 a.m.

A Clark County jail inmate died Wednesday in the hospital after he apparently hanged himself with a bed sheet in his cell over the weekend -- marking the ninth time this year an inmate either attempted or committed suicide.

Antonio Addison, 20, was found in his single-person cell Saturday by a guard and taken to University Medical Center where he died Wednesday about 11 a.m.

Addison, who was in jail on attempted murder, burglary, robbery, attempted robbery and weapons charges, had been returned to his cell after he finished talking on the telephone. About 15 minutes later, a guard returned to look in on him and found him hanging, said Capt. Henry Hoogland of Metro Police's detention services division.

Addison was taken out of general jail population because of behavioral problems, Hoogland said. He was not on suicide watch, and jail officials were not aware of any statements he might have made threatening suicide. Addison had been in the jail since Nov. 13.

Addison's apparent suicide comes about two months after Oscar Cisneros Sanchez, a suspect in a string of casino robberies and the killings of two armored car guard in Henderson, hanged himself in his jail cell on Oct. 7.

Cisneros Sanchez, who implicated himself and two co-defendants in the killings after his June arrest, was not on suicide watch, but he was in protective custody because he was a suspect in a high-profile case.

So far this year there have been six attempts and one other suicide, Metro officials said.

Hoogland said jail officials have taken several precautions to thwart suicide attempts, including installing ceiling vents with very small openings, making it more difficult to loop a bed sheet through for a noose.

But Cisneros Sanchez was able to thread one end of his bed sheet through the small opening of the ceiling vent to hang himself. His death was officially ruled a suicide by the Clark County coroner.

If an inmate starts talking about suicide, officials move the inmate to suicide watch units where any material that could be used to injure himself is removed.

"We also check on them much more often, ranging from the first level of having a correctional officer directly in front of (the inmate) to checking on him every four minutes to checking every 15 minutes," Hoogland said.