Leonardtown -- The hanging death of a prisoner in the St. Mary's County jail last month has been subject of a probe by the District of Columbia Medical Examiner's Office but the investigation has hit a major stimbling block, according to sources, as the braided bedsheet the inmate allegedly used to fashion himself a hangman's noose has disappeared and no one in the St. Mary's Sheriff's Department which operates the jail can manage to find it so the coroner can rule on whether the death was suicide, as reported by the Sheriff or a possible homicide.
The family of Robert Allen Nelson, a 19-year-old man from Mechanicsville with a history of being depressed and making other attempts on his life when incarcerated, say that the Sheriff's Department was negligent in not keeping shoelaces and bedsheets away from the young man who was incarcerated in a single-inmate cell in a five cell pod when he was found hanging from a noose fashioned from his bedsheets and shoelaces.
Nelson had been told by guards the day he was found dead that he was going to be installed in a solitary confinement cell as punishment for breaking jail rules and Nelson's family feels that may have set off a bout of depression for the man who was subject to mood swings as part of his overall misbehavior which had landing him in jail in the first place.
But while Nelson's family tries to deal with the death of their son, most all of their questions which could lay to rest what happened that midnight in September, remain unanswered as Sheriff's officials either don't remember or know the details of the incident or are covering up those details to avoid accountability.
Specifically, Detention Center director Sgt. David Zylak, a recently announced candidate for the Democratic nomination for St. Mary's Sheriff in next year's election told the Nelson family that he had not been able to learn anything about the circumstances of their son's death and has yet to provide them with a complete report on the incident.
Victoria Nelson, the mother of the dead man, contacted St. Mary's State's Attorney Richard Fritz in an attempt to find more information on the circumstances of her son's death but no information has been produced for the family from that effort. Mrs. Nelson said that Fritz agreed with her that her son should have been watched and that when he represented her son when he was a private practice attorney, he argued that jail might be the safest place for him given his extensive medical problems and impulsive behavior which had led to many brushes with the law.
Mrs. Nelson said Fritz instructed her to write a complaint letter requesting a Grand Jury investigation but after seeking counsel in the matter the Nelsons have decided that an independent probe of the circumstances are in order and will file a complaint with the U. S. Attorney for Maryland and the Maryland State Prosecutor's Office.
Detention Center rules direct that guards sweep through all of the cells once per hour doing a bed check on the inmates but apparently the night Nelson died, a bedcheck went two hours before it was done, giving more time for the man to die as he strangled with a noose around his neck and his feet barely touching the floor.
While jail officials are now telling the family that the hourly check on Nelson was performed, adult triage assessment medical records from St. Mary's Hospital which were filled out in the emergency room with information provided by the responding emergency medical technician and the detention center officials report that Nelson had not been checked since 11:15 pm on Sept. 27th and his body wasn't found until 1:10 am on Sept. 28th, a direct contradiction of what jail officials have been asserting to the Nelson family.
A run sheet filled out by the Emergency Medical Technician who reported on the incident plainly noted that Robert Nelson had a history of previous suicide attempts, information that the EMT would have been provided by the Detention Center from files they had on hand that night, information which should have prevented his death, asserts the Nelson family.
Policy for the jail also requires that shoe laces and sheets be removed in cases where an inmate has threatened suicide or is considered to be depressed.
Nelson reportedly failed to take his medication for his depression, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADHT) and bi-polar disorder the day he died. The medication for inmates is controlled by the Sheriff's Department officials who supervise the jail and verification of the inmates continuing with their prescribed medications is a responsibility of the facility.
When law enforcement authorities deprive a person of his freedom and lock them behind bars, the authority also assumes liability for their safety and is expected to be able to prevent an emotionally disturbed person from harming themselves, say veteran police officials.
"We still can't get copies of the police investigation, we still can't get it," said Fred Nelson. "We met with Sgt. Zylak four days after my son's death and he told me that he didn't know anything about the case and he is the jail director".
"What are they covering up about my son's death?" asked Victoria Nelson, who works as a nurse at St. Mary's Hospital and was working the night her son died. "We ask questions and they either don't answer, won't give us copies of the police report, suicide notes they say he left or details about his death. Are they afraid of responsibility for failing to watch him or was he murdered?"
Various Grand Jury probes of conditions at the jail centering on the rape of an inmate last year and other conduct has resulted in changes in policy which should have prevented Nelson's death.
The Nelson's contacted St. Mary's Commissioner Shelby Guazzo (R. Chaptico) for help but never heard back from her.
When the Nelson family attempted to complete burial arrangements following the donation of their son's organs at the Washington Hospital Center in Washington D. C., the D. C. Medical Examiner's Office refused to release their son's body until the police report from the St. Mary's Sheriff's Dept. was turned over to them.
Fred Nelson was unable to contact Sgt. Zylak, a detective who had talked to them originally or Sheriff Voorhaar himself, forced to leave voicemails with each man's phone. When a detective reached him later, the officer told him that two deputies who were assigned to carry the police report to Washington has been in an auto wreck themselves, delaying the delivery of the police report on their son to the medical examiner.
