Stark County Jail inmate died in custody, investigation ongoing
CANTON – Four law enforcement agencies continue to investigate the death of a man found hanging in his cell at the Stark County Jail nearly six weeks ago.
The 52-year-old southwest Canton man was found at 7:04 p.m. Dec. 11 "in his cell hanging by his sheet," according to the initial incident report at the Stark County Sheriff's Office.
He had been convicted six days earlier of felony trespassing into a habitation. He was placed on intensive supervisory probation and scheduled to be released to an in-house rehabilitation program, according to Stark County court records.
Harry Campbell, chief investigator for the Stark County Coroner's Office, confirmed Tuesday that the man had been pronounced dead at 7:40 p.m. Dec. 11 at Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital. The man's body was taken to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy.
Stephan Babik, chief policy adviser for the sheriff's office, said Tuesday that the case remains under investigation by the Bureau of Adult Detention for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, the Stark and Lorain County sheriff's offices and the county coroner's office. Lorain deputies were investigating for the Buckeye Sheriff's Association on request from the Stark County Sheriff's Office.
Sheriff George Maier said the man had his own cell in the housing unit. He said he was not aware of any prior indications that the man intended to harm himself.
The man's death is the third inmate death at the jail in three years. The others involved a 46-year-old man on Dec. 10, 2019, and a 30-year-old man found unresponsive in his cell on Oct. 14, 2018, according to prior Canton Repository reports.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Authorities investigating inmate's death at Stark County Jail
