PORT ANGELES — A Clallam County jail inmate was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center after attempting suicide Friday afternoon by hanging himself with his jail overalls, jail Superintendent Ron Sukert said.
David L. Hales, 34, of Port Angeles was treated at Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles before he was airlifted to the Seattle hospital, Sukert said.
A Harborview nursing supervisor said Hales was not listed on the patient directory Saturday. On Friday, a Harborview spokeswoman would not tell of Hales’ condition or confirm he was at the Seattle hospital, saying hospital policy is to refrain from releasing any information about jail inmates in its care.
Sukert said Saturday he did not have information about Hales’ condition.
Hales was incarcerated for violating the conditions of his state Department of Corrections community custody on a heroin possession conviction, according to Clallam County Superior Court records.
Sukert said Hales had been removed from DOC custody when he was transferred to Harborview. Hales was not listed in custody of a state prison Saturday.
“DOC determined that they were not going to hold him any longer on those sanctions,” Sukert said.
DOC Communications Director Jeremy Barclay said that Hales is on active community supervision and is supervised out of the Port Angeles field office. Hales’ period of supervision is scheduled to end Dec. 12, 2018, Barclay said.
“I don’t have any information on a medical stay for him,” Barclay said in a Saturday email.
Sheriff’s office corrections deputies found Hales hanging from a protective basket that encases the fire suppression system at 1:12 p.m. Friday during a routine welfare check, Sukert said.
The last time Hales had been checked before that was 12:20 p.m., when he received his noon meal, Sukert said.
Sukert said deputies must have face-to-face contact with inmates at least once an hour and typically have contact every 50 minutes.
Jail personnel cut the ligature from Hales’ neck and initiated CPR before Port Angeles Fire Department personnel arrived and paramedics took over.
Hales had been held since Monday in a segregated-housing cell by himself — for 23 hours a day — “because of his continual misbehaving in the jail,” Sukert said.
The sheriff’s office has asked the Multi-Agency Investigative Response Team to help investigate the circumstances surrounding the attempted suicide.
MIRT is composed of area law enforcement agencies that provide investigators to assist with complex or sensitive cases, Sukert said.
The last Clallam County jail inmate to strangle himself was Andrew Staritzky, 39, of Port Angeles on May 18, 2011.
Staritzky was taken off life support and pronounced dead at Harborview four days later.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
Reporter Rob Ollikainen contributed to this report.
