TRAVERSE CITY -- The Grand Traverse County Jail will ban plastic and consider other new policies after a young woman attempted to suffocate herself in a shower room, the second such suicide attempt in recent months.
A female inmate, 21, stretched a plastic bag over her head in an attempt to suffocate herself Sunday evening, Sheriff Scott Fewins said. The woman never lost consciousness and wasn't injured in the attempt, Fewins said, although she tied socks around her neck to secure the bag.
"I don't think she came anywhere close to being successful," he said. "She wasn't harmed at all."
Fellow inmates in the woman's eight-person cell discovered her on the floor of the cell's shower at about 7:25 p.m. and hit a panic button to alert corrections officers. She was taken to the hospital, but returned to the jail that evening, Fewins said.
Fewins refused to identify the woman, but said she had been jailed since May 16 awaiting court proceedings for writing bad checks and other charges. She was upset after a recent visit from friends and family, Fewins said, but wasn't considered a suicide risk.
Kingsley resident Sarah Clark, 21, died about three days after forming a noose from socks and hanging herself in a separate, segregated shower room at the jail Feb. 28. No policies were changed after that suicide, Fewins said, and he downplayed similarities between the two incidents.
"There were people in that cell sitting from here to the wall from her that didn't know she was doing it," he said of the recent suicide attempt. "This is really not like Sarah Clark."
Jail officials said they hadn't deemed Clark a suicide risk, although jail records reflected a significant suicidal history.
The jail will now ban as much plastic as possible, including plastic bags and trash liners. Officials also will consider limiting shower time, but contend it's difficult to monitor showering inmates more closely because of privacy laws.
"There's only so much we can do to prevent (a suicide) if somebody is dead-set," Fewins said.
The woman was scheduled to be released on bond Tuesday after a hearing with a judge, Fewins said, although community mental health workers were required to clear her before release.
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