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Sheriff asking for reconfiguration of jail pod to prevent suicide attempts
LUDINGTON — Mason County Sheriff Kim Cole is asking the Mason County Board of Commissioners to approve a request to remove and replace rails that surround the Mason County Jail’s mezzanine pod. The sheriff is requesting the railings be replaced with meshing as a result of several suicide attempts by inmates in that area.
“The current set up has a rail system on the stairs and along the upper level,” Cole wrote to Mason County Administrator Fabian Knizacky in a memo. “Last year, we had an inmate attempt suicide by tying a sheet around the rail and his neck and jump. Thankfully, inmates in the cell and deputies responding to the situation caught the inmate, no doubt saving his life. Since my tenure as sheriff (2013), we have had three others attempt suicide by either jumping off, or attempting to hang themselves.”
Sheriff Kim Cole
Cole said he learned of the mesh system while attending a recent conference. He is requesting that Granger, a company based out of Lansing, perform the work, which is estimated to cost $285,982. The company has installed similar systems in several other jails.
The Board of Commissioners meets at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 13 in the conference room at the Mason County Airport terminal, 5300 W. US 10, Pere Marquette Township. The jail is located at 302 N. Delia St. in the City of Ludington.
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