Dougherty Jail inmate dies of apparent suicide

ALBANY — An inmate at the Dougherty County Jail apparently committed suicide around 7 p.m. Monday, Dougherty County Sheriff Kevin Sproul said.

Reports indicate that jailers discovered the body of inmate Lane Albritton, 23, and that jail officers and medical personnel attempted to resuscitate him but were unsuccessful.

“A little bit after 7 p.m., I received a phone call that Mr. Lane Albritton had, what appeared to be, committed suicide,” Sproul said at a news conference Tuesday morning. “We called the coroner in, and he was pronounced dead. The coroner took custody of Mr. Albritton, and an autopsy will be conducted tomorrow, which is standard protocol for incidents such as this.

“This is a horrific event. It is not an event that I wish for anyone to have to endure or go through. The staff, from the first officer on the scene all the way up the chain to myself, have done phenomenal work. Our investigator has been working on this and, as of right now, it is still an open investigation.”

Albritton, of Baconton, was booked into the jail on Monday, according to officials.

“Albritton had a local charge and was on hold for Mitchell County,” said Dougherty County Jail Director Col. John Ostrander. “He was booked into the jail on 11/28. He had been charged with possession of spice, but was off bond for that charge.”

According to the Mitchell County Sheriff’s Office, Albritton was wanted for probation violation because of his possession charge in Dougherty County.

When asked the manner in which Albritton died, Sproul responded, “It appears that he hung himself, right now, in the shower in the infirmary of the medical department. Due to his medical condition, he was being held back there.”

Officials would not comment on the specifics of Albritton’s medical condition but said it required supervision.

“He did have a medical condition that required medical supervision,” Ostrander said. “So he was housed in the infirmary.”

According to Ostrander, the jail’s infirmary does not house inmates in individual cells, and two other inmates were being housed there at the same time as Albritton.

“We have not questioned those inmates yet but intend to do that today,” Ostrander said. “There is surveillance in general areas, but obviously not every square inch of the facility can be under camera surveillance and the area where this occurred was not directly surveilled.”

Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler said that an autopsy was planned for Wednesday, but upon the initial examination of Albritton’s body, there was no indication of anything other than suicide.

“There were folks that had interaction with him within an hour of him being found,” Ostrander said. “The area that he was in, he was under minimal supervision. This is a terrible tragedy. Mr. Albritton wasn’t convicted of anything. He was a pretrial inmate. He was accused, but that doesn’t mean that he was guilty of anything. That had yet to be determined.”

According to officials, investigators are looking into possible reasons Albritton would have taken his life. He had not been on a suicide watch.

“We are questioning inmates and staff,” Sproul said. “We will be reviewing phone calls and surveillance video. We are going to look at everything and turn every leaf over to see if there was any outcry or any indication at all that he may have been planning this or thinking about it.”

The jail provides a suicide watch, a program of extra supervision, for at-risk inmates, officials said.

“When it is brought to our attention that an inmate may have suicidal thoughts or tendencies, we place them in a supervisory status called suicide watch,” Ostrander said. “They are monitored every 15 minutes. Physically checked on every 15 minutes, and that is documented. But Mr. Albritton was not in that status.”

According to Sproul, this is the first inmate suicide during his time as sheriff.

“I’m not sure exactly, but I think it has been about eight to 10 years since we have had a suicide,” Sproul said. “It is the first one under my tenure as sheriff. We always use things like this as a learning experience.

“We will look at all our protocols that we have in place. We will look at all the policies, procedures and guidelines, and if we see a deficient area where we can be better then, of course, we will be better. It is a disappointing time and it is a sad day.”