Inmate Hangs Himself

A 20-year-old man hanged himself with a bed sheet in the Nez Perce County Jail in Lewiston.

William Francis Hammond of Lewiston was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday on a felony charge of driving without privileges. Sheriff Ron Koeper said jailers had no indication he was suicidal.

“He did indicate that he didn’t want to go back to prison, but not that he was going to commit suicide,” Koeper said.

Hammond on March 16 was sentenced to four years probation for grand theft, state records show. Conviction on an unrelated felony could have caused his probation to be revoked and sent him to prison.

Hammond was discovered Tuesday morning.

He was housed in a single cell in an area nicknamed “the tank.” Before a lawsuit forced restructuring, as many as four prisoners could be put in each of seven cells, but now it is limited to one.

“And we can’t monitor the individual cells. The only way to check those cells is from a catwalk, which is supposed to happen every hour on the hour,” Koeper said.

“And I’m not too sure that we did that, but even if we did, it wouldn’t have prevented him from doing what he did.”