Inmate dies in Benton County safety cell

The regional Special Investigative Unit is investigating the death of an inmate in a cell at the Benton County jail Friday morning.

The Benton County Sheriff’s Department is withholding the man’s name pending a meeting with his family Friday night.

The man, about age 19, is described as Hispanic and a documented gang member. At the time of his death, the teen was being held in a padded cell reserved for distressed or volatile inmates.

Corrections officers found him unresponsive during a routine check at 7:30 a.m. He was pronounced dead a short time later.

Suicide is not suspected, said Commander Jon Law, who manages the jail.

The victim was arrested March 3 by the Kennewick Police Department on three outstanding misdemeanor warrants, two from Kennewick and one from Pasco.

He had not appeared in court because of volatile behavior, including attempts to escape, violence, threats of self-harm and attempts to damage property, said officials.

Jail officials believed he may have been under the influence of narcotics at the time he was arrested. The jail said force was not used while he was being booked.

Benton County mental health staff assessed him daily and made medically based recommendations concerning where to house him.

He was on a schedule that required officers to check on him every 30 minutes or less. The sheriff’s department said those checks were conducted.

The jail cell where he was being held has no place where inmates can hang themselves. And the jail takes away the inmate’s clothing and gives them what it calls a suicide smock, a heavy blanket that resists being tied or torn for suicide by hanging, said officials.

There were two inmate deaths at the jail last year. Cory L. Watson, 52, hanged herself with a bed sheet last May. And Michael Shea, 22, reportedly hanged himself in February 2015.

This story was originally published March 11, 2016 at 6:13 PM with the headline "Inmate dies in Benton County safety cell."