Failure to Report
How did the D.C. Jail let two troubled inmates kill themselves in their cells? Don't ask the D.C. Jail
Cover Story
No one noticed when Thomas Alemayehu killed himself in Cell 43 of the D.C. Jail by twisting a torn piece of a bed sheet around his neck and tying it to the top bunk.
By the time someone checked on him, his body already was cold and stiffening; rigor mortis doesn’t occur until approximately two hours after death.
Alemayehu, a 28-year-old Ethiopian cab driver with a history of mental illness, died two days before Christmas in 2006, but he might have survived if corrections officers had done their job. Two corporals claim they completed mandatory inmate counts every 30 minutes, but surveillance cameras show no one had set foot on the cell block tier for more than two hours, according to a recently released internal-affairs investigation by the D.C. Department of Corrections.
![]("http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/cover/2008/0411/images/Jail_Alemayehu-2.jpg")
“There is a strong possibility that Mr. Alemayehu was hanging in a position between his bunk and toilet during the times that security checks and official counts were supposed to have been conducted,” the DOC report states.
During his initial health screening at the jail four days before his suicide, Alemayehu told medical staff he had tried to kill himself before, which should have triggered a mental-health assessment by a psychiatrist from jail medical-services contractor Unity Health Care.... Continued 
Issue of Apr. 11 - 17, 2008
News and Features
- Failure to Report
Cover Story - Sakhi Gulestan, 1930s–2008
Feature - Church and Plate
The City - Buyer's Market
The City - Found Art
Distractions
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- Dan's Mom, R.I.P.
Savage Love - Jesus, R.I.P.
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Young & Hungry
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Film Review- Raw Deal
Film - Smart People and My Brother Is an Only Child: Squall in the Family
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- Gone to Seediness
Music Review - One Track Mind
Music
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- Tragic Pa's
Theater Review
Theater Review- The rainpan 43 Festival:
Theater Review
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- What's Your Problem?
What's Your Problem? - All Walts of Life
Book Reviews - Sweet Seventeen
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- The Happy Time
Arts & Events - Wye Oak
Arts & Events - "Floating Faces"
Arts & Events - Kathleen Edwards
Arts & Events - The rainpan 43 Festival: "All Wear Bowlers"
Arts & Events - Public Record
Arts & Events - Carla Bozulich's Evangelista
Arts & Events - Up and Out
Arts & Events - Scott Simon
Arts & Events - "Heidi Taillefer: Muses and Heroes"
Arts & Events - Death of a Salesman
Arts & Events - A View From the Bridge
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