Waco – Counselors comforted inmates who knew Kristian Culver was contemplating suicide in a segregation unit at the Jack Harwell Detention Center Wednesday afternoon.
Some are feeling a sense of guilt due to their not saying anything in respect for the inmates’ creed of a code of silence. To speak up is to label one self a snitch. Conventional wisdom demands that one do one’s own time, and no one else’s.
A close relative of an eye witness said at first, he could only hear a commotion because a towel was hanging over the window to his cell. When he looked across the corridor, he beheld a macabre sight. He could see the suicide victim hanging, his face blue, tongue protruding. A guard cut the victim down and tried to administer CPR, but his efforts were to no avail.
Authorities took statements from all witnesses.
Culver, a federal offender housed in the segregation section as a matter of policy, hailed from Brownsville. Inmates answering charges leveled by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities are similarly segregated, as are those with mental difficulties, accused sex offenders, and those suffering from illnesses.
Visitors emerging from the lockup today said they have indications their kin are having trouble getting their medication, that they have had to “raise hell” to get the La Salle Corrections staff to take care of their needs.
Others said that transfers between the McLennan County Jail operated by the Sheriff’s Office and the privately operated Jack Harwell lockup are so frequent that putting money on an inmate’s books can be a hit or miss affair.
One person said it’s been two weeks since a loved one has been able to obtain sanitary items from the commissary.