Authorities are conducting an investigation after an inmate at the Weber County jail died on Monday.
Deputies found the inmate after they “were alerted to a problem in a housing section,” according to a news release from the Weber County Sheriff’s Office. It said deputies tried unspecified lifesaving measures before medics took the inmate to a hospital, where they were pronounced dead.
According to the sheriff’s office, the inmate died by suicide.
The sheriff’s office didn’t release any identifying information about the individual and the sheriff’s department will be offering counseling services to all staff and inmates “involved in the incident,” according to the news release.
The Weber County Attorney’s Office will lead the death investigation.
This is the second known inmate death in a Utah jail this month. An inmate was found dead in the Garfield County jail on Feb. 6. Officials there also suspect the inmate died by suicide.
In 2014, Utah had the highest rate of county inmate deaths in the nation, and between 2014 and February 2017 more than half of the 56 known deaths in Utah jails were suicides.
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