A recent rise in suicide attempts at the Lancaster County Prison is raising some questions about procedures at the prison.
In a two-week span around Christmas four inmates tried to commit suicide. Two of the inmates died. Michael Laussell and Zachary Keiffer both hanged themselves.
"It's very sad whenever you have something happen like this. It has an impact across the whole facility, the community, and across families," said Lancaster County Commissioner Scott Martin. "We'll definitely learn from this. We'll review videos, and we'll review the check logs to make sure that everyone is doing their job. We will also give praise for the two that were prevented because people were doing their jobs."
At a Prison Board meeting on Thursday morning members released some details about the deaths. The two inmates were housed in the Medical Housing Unit of the Prison. "The unit is next to medical and mental health areas. Our population in that unit generally stays around 60 or below, so it is more contact with staff," said Lancaster County Prison Warden Paul Smeal.
Smeal said inmates in the Medical Housing Unit are supposed to be checked every 15 to 30 minutes. According to prison records both inmates were checked within these guidelines.
Smeal became Warden at Lancaster County Prison in November. He is looking into what changes can be made. "There is probably a lot of stuff that we can work on to get better, right from me and going on down," said Smeal. "One of the things we discovered was the clock wasn't working. So we put a new clock in there so the inmates have a sense of the day and time. Now all of the clocks are being checked."
Smeal also wants help from the community. "Individuals who may hear anything that even remotely sounds like an inmate hinting at it, we need them to call our facility. Anything, big or small," said Smeal.
FOX43 asked if any staff members are being disciplined because of the recent incidents but officials declined to comment because of the ongoing investigation.
