The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

Glenn Bourgeois, 44, was found hanging in his cell in a segregation unit at 4:34 a.m., and was pronounced dead less than an hour later at Norwood Hospital, said Diane Wiffin, Department of Correction spokeswoman.

Bourgeois was convicted of first degree murder, armed robbery and other charges in 1985 stemming from a fatal shooting during a robbery in Middleborough in September 1983, Wiffin said.

Bourgeois used a bedsheet to hang himself in a cell in a segregation unit called 10 Block. Wiffin said the unit was fully staffed with a lieutenant and two officers. She said a review of video shows the officers followed policy by conducting cell checks every half-hour.

There are 60 cells in 10 Block, currently housing 57 inmates, she said. Bourgeois was "not an active mental health case," according to a DOC statement. He was transferred to Cedar Junction on Aug. 8 from the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater after officials discovered a cellular phone and 8-inch hacksaw blade piece in his cell. Officials said last week that two people in custody hanged themselves at separate state prison facilities within two hours of each other late Dec. 12 or early Dec. 13.

Nicole Davis, 24, was found hanging by a bedsheet at MCI-Framingham late Dec. 12. Davis was in custody for a 30-day drug detoxification program but was not a convicted criminal.

Convicted murderer Eduardo Soto, 33, was found hanging by a bedsheet at Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater early Dec. 13.

"The only parallel is they are in DOC custody," Wiffin said of the rash of suicides. "It's not evidence of a larger matter."

Still, the DOC in September began a suicide prevention assessment. Wiffin said the findings would be released early in the new year.