Detectives are investigating the death of a 35-year-old man that occurred at the Lewis County Jail on Wednesday, the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday morning.
Corrections personnel were conducting hourly checks on housing units when, at approximately 9:58 p.m., while checking a housing unit with secured single-occupancy cells, they reportedly “observed a 35-year-old male of Chehalis who appeared to have a piece of clothing affixed to his bunk, as well as around his neck area,” according to the sheriff’s office.
“Corrections personnel and jail medical staff began to perform life-saving efforts while emergency medical services were summoned,” the sheriff’s office stated in a news release on Thursday.
The man, whose name has not been publicly released, was declared dead at approximately 10:36 p.m. “despite the efforts of emergency medical service providers,” according to the sheriff’s office.
The Lewis County Coroner’s Office will release the decedent's name “once their identification process and required notifications are made,” according to the sheriff’s office.
In addition to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office’s own investigation into the inmate’s cause and manner of death, the Washington state Department of Corrections (DOC) will conduct an unexpected fatality review as required by state law, according to the sheriff’s office.
