Family wonders why no one stopped apparent suicide in Greene County Jail
Billie Short and Jack Farmer grew up together, like cousins, since their moms were best friends. They stayed close as adults, struggling with mental health issues and abused drugs to combat their demons.
Both knew living on the edge like that was dangerous.
Facing a 10-year prison sentence in 2021 for dealing meth, Short finally succeeded at rehab and established a new life an hour's drive from Bloomington. She's 39, lives in Shoals with her parents and is taking classes for an associate's degree in business.
She made it out. Farmer — everyone called him JJ — didn't.
On July 22, staff at the Greene County Jail found the 43-year-old Bloomington man unresponsive in a dayroom. Six days later, sheriff George Dallaire released a statement that said Farmer had been seriously hurt in an incident at the jail and was hospitalized.
Farmer was taken to Linton's Greene County General Hospital, then to Deaconess Hospital in Evansville.
Dallaire wouldn't release details, citing an investigation that involves Indiana State Police detectives. But he confirmed Farmer was unresponsive when jail staff discovered him in a common area at the modern facility in Bloomfield, which opened in 2019.
What happened to JJ Farmer?
According to court records, Farmer was arrested in Greene County and charged July 10 with residential burglary and theft and had been held at the jail since then.
He had a hearing scheduled to occur two days after the suicide attempt to be advised of an habitual criminal petition filed against him that could have added years to his sentence if he were convicted of the recent charges.
Farmer's previous felony convictions, spread over two decades, all were for minor offenses: three for theft and two for auto theft.
Dallaire said there is video footage of what happened that confirms Farmer died from self-inflicted injuries. He said that, and investigative reports and interviews, have been given to the Indiana State Police for review before completing a final report.
An autopsy may provide answers.
Farmer's family said they believe he was strangled or hanged himself with a metal-wrapped telephone cord from a wall phone inmates use. Short said bruises on his neck match the phone cords she knows from being in jail.
Family also said several days before, he had somehow cut off half of one of his pinkie fingers. The wound was fresh, Short said, stitches still intact when Farmer died. Was this self-inflicted injury a call for help?
A week after he was found unconscious, his organs were removed for donation and Farmer's life was over. Short said he had completed drug rehab during the past year, but continued to struggle with depression and finding his way.
"I wish he could have somebody that would have just held it together for him," Short said. "Where you don't have to sell drugs or worry about where you'll sleep or when you'll go back to jail. I wish that he would have had that chance to make it."
Unusual behavior leads to arrest
It was a midday burglary in Midland Meadows, just south of Jasonville, that landed Farmer in jail for the last time. A man reported he and his wife came home about 12:30 to find Farmer and a toddler playing with their kids' toys in the front yard.
When he asked the shirtless, barefoot man why he was at the house, he said Farmer mumbled that God had told him to be there, and that he had just gotten out of rehab. The homeowner prayed with Farmer, and afterward asked him to leave. Then he called the sheriff's department.
While inside the house, Farmer apparently let a dog out of a room and gave it some food and water. He folded some blankets and drank an energy beverage from the refrigerator; a sheriff's deputy collected the bottle for evidence.
Police tracked Farmer and the child to a nearby house on Ind. 59 where he had been staying. Farmer told police he had gone inside the unlocked house down the street because he was thirsty, knowing he shouldn't have gone in.
The prosecutor's office charged Farmer with felony burglary and also misdemeanor theft for dressing the child with him, his girlfriend's 2-year-old granddaughter, in a pink princess shirt he found inside the house.
Farmer may have removed a dead mouse from a trap while he was in the home and also used one of their baby's diapers for the toddler, who the man said Farmer tried to leave with him. He said Farmer acted in a "strange manner."
Who was on watch at the jail?
Short said she, Farmer's 21-year-old child and other family members want an explanation of how he could have strangled himself with a phone cord in a common area of the jail that's under camera surveillance. They wonder if he was under special watch after his finger was severed.
"There's so much wrapped around his death that doesn't make sense," Short said. Farmer was depressed and suffered from PTSD, "and he had a hard life." Troubled lives sometimes take people away.
"It's not so hard to believe JJ killed himself, because I guess we know that can happen," Short said, "since it's no surprise to us in our family for someone to just die."
"If he did do this to himself, shouldn't there have been something better done, for people like him? You're not supposed to just leave them there."
She wants answers. "A lot of people in our family have been to jail, and no one ever heard of anyone cutting a finger off and them not knowing what the hell happened. Was it a freak accident or what? Because no one believes you can cut your finger off with a spork."
A 2021 IndyStar analysis found that suicide was the leading manner of death for people who died in Indiana jails from 2010 through June 2021. Of 300 deaths, 125, which is 42%, were from suicide.
Most of those who died in the state's county jails during that time were men. And most, like Farmer, were being held pre-trial on non-violent charges.
'A horrible situation'
Dallaire said his biggest concern in his first year as sheriff is the large number of prisoners in the jail he oversees who have mental health issues far beyond what the staff can manage. Add in the effects of substance use disorder, and jail management with a limited staff is a challenge.
He and Short confirmed the jail's part-time psychiatric nurse had examined Farmer, but it's unclear when and what the outcome was. Medical records are protected, and Dallaire can't speak about the investigation.
"I hate it for Mr. Farmer and for his family," Dallaire said. "It's a horrible situation. And it's been difficult for our staff, who have been able to stop suicide attempts in the past. But it seems people are more desperate than ever, and the number of people with mental health issues we see is through the roof."
He said prisoners may be behind bars for breaking the law, "but this is not the appropriate place for them until they've been made sound."
The problem is widespread. "I can tell you right now that every jail has this same issue. It's almost like our inmates are a lost segment of society, and the position the state has taken is to not do much of anything."
Short acknowledged the challenges and suggested the answer may be in having more and better-trained staff in the jail.
"If JJ did do this, why was the staff not watching him more closely? Their job is to protect him, even if from himself."
Contact H-T reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-318-5967.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Greene County Jail inmate JJ Farmer dies after apparent suicide
