It was Christopher Kelley’s mother who found him first.
Susan Kelley stepped out onto the porch of her family’s Street home on a June evening to find Christopher, 21, hanging from shoelaces tied to an eye bolt supporting their porch swing. According to police reports, she dashed back inside, grabbed a pair of scissors, and cut her son down.
Once on the ground, Kelley began to breathe normally again. But when he came to, he heard the sound of approaching sirens from the police his mother had called, and dashed into the woods behind their home.
Six months later, Kelley was found hanging from a bedsheet in his cell at the Harford County Detention Center. When he died at the University of Maryland R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center a week later, Kelley became the seventh Harford County Detention Center inmate in just over three years to die from events which took place at the jail, and the second suicide in two years.
The weeks since Kelley’s death have seen a change in command at the detention center, amid rumblings of investigations and disciplinary actions against facility employees. In March, the major in charge of the jail since the retirement of its previous warden last year announced his own retirement, effective April 1. His departure caused Sheriff Jesse Bane to change course and begin a search for a new civilian warden, despite previous comments that he would not reopen the position.
At the time of Kelley’s death, agency spokeswoman Monica Worrell told The Aegis that there was no indication that he was a threat to himself. But following further questions posed by The Dagger, Worrell said jail records showed Kelley had in fact been on suicide watch just a day before his death, as well as during an earlier incarceration in July.
“We dedicate a lot of resources, both in tax dollars and staffing, to endure the best care possible for our inmates,” Bane said in a statement to The Dagger, in response to questions posed about Kelley’s death. “When we have a death at the Harford County Detention Center, it is investigated, and we continually evaluate our protocols to make certain the best care humanely possible is provided to those in our care and custody.”
Worrell declined to comment on any investigations or disciplinary actions which may have resulted from Kelley’s death, saying that both would be personnel matters.
Kelley’s family declined comment for this story, on the advice of legal counsel. But police reports, court records and information from the Harford County Sheriff’s Office show that police were called to the young man’s home three times for attempted suicides in the six months before he finally succeeded in taking his own life.
Those incidents included teams of canines deployed by local law enforcement and air support from the Maryland State Police, all attempting to stop Kelley from hurting himself. Upon his imprisonment in January, Kelley himself—who, according to reports, bore scars on his neck from previous suicide attempts—told officers that he had attempted to take his own life. When released from isolation a day before his death, mental health evaluators determined that he was still at a high enough risk to harm himself that he required a bunkmate and should not be housed alone.
Kelley encountered all of the support mechanisms a local community offers—rehabilitation centers, hospital professionals, the staff of the detention center, and his own family and friends—none of which could stop him from taking his own life. Nonetheless, Kelley committed the acts which would lead to his death while under the watch of the county’s main law enforcement agency, and in a tightly controlled environment, a place with specific procedures designed to prevent what he accomplished.
The Harford County Detention Center is audited every three years by the state Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services’ Commission on Correctional Standards. The commission focuses on eight areas of compliance, ranging from inmate safety to food service to administrative record keeping. Those areas include specific standards for the supervision of inmates and mental health screening and assistance.
The county’s detention center has been recognized for 100 percent compliance in its last three audits, conducted in 2003, 2006 and 2009. Its next audit is scheduled for October.
At the time of Kelley’s death, Mark Vernarelli, a spokesman for the department, could not say how the spate of deaths at the Harford County Detention Center had been taken into consideration during the audits.
However, he noted that local corrections facilities tend to face greater instances of suicide attempts than longer-term facilities. An inmate has often been in the criminal justice system for some time before being housed at a facility such as the Jessup Correctional Institution, he said, but local jails may be the first stop for a person suspected of a crime.
“Pretrial jails are difficult places, because people are at their lowest point,” he said.
According to a Department of Justice report issued in December, between 2001 and 2009, a total of 48 inmates committed suicide while in custody at a Maryland prison. Those deaths were among 587 deaths reported statewide from all causes in that timeframe.
Eventually, an updated report will be prepared, and the number of inmates who committed suicide while in custody will be counted.
But Christopher Kelley will not be among them.
——–
Christopher Kelley led a troubled life in the year before his death. He spent several months in the detention center, serving two months for assaulting his then-girlfriend. He attended rehab at least once, and had several other run-ins with police.
Kelley was first arrested in February 2011 after police said he got into an argument with his girlfriend, pushing her to the ground before driving around with her for several hours, threatening to kill her and further assaulting her before returning her to her home, according to charging documents.
Kelley pled guilty to a charge of second degree assault in June, and was sentenced to two months at the Harford County Detention Center. Two other charges of false imprisonment and theft under $100 were dropped.
On June 5, shortly after 7:15 p.m., police received a call from Susan Kelley about Christopher’s attempted suicide. Arriving at the scene and finding that he had fled into the woods, deputies called in canine units to assist in the search, according to a police report. His parents said Kelley “had been using drugs for awhile” but had recently completed a stint in rehab. Kelley’s father, Scott, also said that one of his son’s close friends had been killed in an automobile accident.
Kelley was eventually located several hours later at a Bel Air address, and was sent to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center for evaluation.
The next day, Scott Kelley reported that his son had stolen two items of Civil War memorabilia from the home and pawned them in the hours before his suicide attempt.
Police next encountered Kelley on July 14, five days before he was scheduled to start serving his sentence for the February assault. Kelley had texted friends, including the same woman he assaulted, to say he planned to kill himself.
According to a police report, a Harford County Sheriff’s Office deputy viewed a text message sent by Kelley which read, “No Dude i am about to kill myself dude it was good knowing you bro this is it i can’t take it my life sucks to no one loves me anymore good knowing you dude.”
Kelley was home alone due to his parents being out of town, police said, but answered the door. He said “numerous times” that he would not kill himself, but said he was upset because his girlfriend was breaking up with him, one of his friends had died, and he was about to report to the detention center for incarceration, according to a deputy’s report.
Kelley was taken to Harford Memorial Hospital on an emergency petition, a procedure used by law enforcement officers to take an individual into custody for an evaluation against their will.
Five days later, on July 19, Kelley reported to the detention center to begin serving his sentence as planned. Worrell said Kelley told officers he had tried to kill himself and was initially held in isolation under suicide watch, until he was transferred to a direct supervision unit on July 22. While there, he was initially under a 15-minute watch, and remained in the unit until his release on September 16.
Worrell said any corrections officer can place an inmate under constant watch, a state of custody in which they are continually monitored. However, she said an inmate can only be removed from constant watch on the recommendation of mental health professionals, following an evaluation.
Just over two months after his release, Kelley was again arrested for allegedly breaking into the home of his deceased friend’s family on Nov. 21 and stealing a video game console and video games from their late son’s room.
Kelley was charged with burglary, theft under $1,000, and malicious destruction of property. He was released on $7,500 bond after spending less than five hours at the detention center.
Nine days later, on Nov. 30, Kelley was stopped by police and consented to a search, which revealed heroin. Kelley briefly struggled with officers before being arrested and charged with resisting arrest and possession of a controlled substance.
Police were called to the Kelley home once more on the morning Dec. 4 following an argument the previous night between Kelley and his father over the theft of a family video game console. Kelley fled into the woods that night, later telling his father that he had tried to hang himself three times but failed “because the branches kept breaking,” according to a police report.
The next morning, Kelley told his family he wanted to die and again fled to the woods, triggering a four-hour search which included canine bloodhound units and two flyovers by a Maryland State Police helicopter. The search was eventually called off after police said all resources had been exhausted.
A missing person report was filed, which indicated that Kelley bore a scar on his neck from a previous suicide attempt. The report also indicated that he had a history of suicide attempts and drug problems.
Kelley was eventually found on the morning of Dec. 5 after he was taken and admitted to Harford Memorial Hospital by the same woman involved in the February incident.
The exact circumstances of Kelley’s January arrest for violation of probation in connection with that assault charge are not clear. Worrell said he was arrested on Jan. 8 and housed in general population for one day before being moved to isolation under suicide watch. Worrell said it was not clear why he was initially placed in general population, or what caused him to be removed from it and placed under watch.
While housed in isolation under constant watch, Worrell said inmates are not allowed items in their cell, are not given bedding materials, and are clothed in paper garments. She said individuals can be placed on constant watch as a result of statements or actions made at the time of their booking, their psychological history, or prior suicide attempts.
Kelley spent four days in isolation under constant watch. Eventually, mental health evaluators determined he would be better served by being around other people, and Kelley was moved into a direct supervision unit, but housed with a bunkmate.
A day after that move, at approximately 11:30 p.m., the corrections officer in charge of the unit began shepherding inmates from the common area back to their cells for the night. Kelley’s cell mate returned to their cell to find him hanging by a bed sheet from the top bunk.
Calling for assistance, the bunkmate worked alongside the corrections officer to perform CPR on Kelley before he was transported to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center, and later to the Shock Trauma Center.
On Jan. 17, as Kelley lay in a hospital bed on life support, a court order officially released him from the custody of the Harford County Sheriff’s Office.
Several days later, on Jan. 21, Kelley’s family removed him from life support, and let him go, too.
Sad story.
This sure is a sad story.Mrs Kelly I am sure you did everything you could to help your son.Your son was sick something he could not control.HE IS AT PEACE NOW WITH THE ANGELS UP ABOVE.AT LEAST YOU NOW KNOW HE IS SAFE.GOD BLESS YOU AN YOUR FAMILY.
May God Grant Eternal Life to Him. I feel for the family and wish them the peace that comes with knowing that he is in heaven. BUT know that he wanted to commit suicide before he entered the HCDC. The staff at the HCDC is professional.
Why after his first attempt was this boy not in some sort of Inpatient Psychiatric Tx program? This poor family and many others like it.
Mrs. Kelley, very sorry for the loss of your son.
Wish I could agree with the above post “The staff at the HCDC is professional.” but having my on personal experience with HCDC I can’t. I do think the Sheriff is doing what he can to make it a professionally run facility but I think he’s over whelmed by everything that’s going on in this county mostly because of illegal drugs. I feel deeply for the Kelly family. Losing one’s child just happen!
then you probably got locked up there and were the model citizen?
From the above story: “At the time of Kelley’s death, agency spokeswoman Monica Worrell told The Aegis that there was no indication that he was a threat to himself. But following further questions posed by The Dagger, Worrell said jail records showed Kelley had in fact been on suicide watch just a day before his death, as well as during an earlier incarceration in July.”
More false statements coming from the sheriff’s mouth piece this time. Looks like Jesse can’t tell the truth and expects his staff to be equally liberal with the facts.
In depth reporting, Dagger. Good work.
the dagger only reports on one side of the story. Gotta love when they only do bad stories about the HCDC. They must wanna get more money with a bad story and sensationalize it.
Onesided: Who wants to get more money? What is the other side of the story since you seem to be so knowledgeable? Don’t understand your babbling.
What is the “other side of the story”?
Onesided,
What are you talking about? Do you consider this article a bad story? The Dagger is reporting the facts as put forward by the HCSO. Are you suggesting that information from the HCSO is false? Personally, I believe staff at the HCDC do a very good job, given how short of personnel the HCDC is to adequately staff a facility of it’s size. That is a problem which rests with the Sheriff, not the HCDC staff. If you have information that the Dagger is withholding which would put a different light on this article, please share it with us.
It’s not entirely the sheriff’s fault that the jail is under staffed. Before they even broke ground on the expansion he told Craig and the council that they needed at least 70 more officers to properly staff the jail expansion (and the jail was already understaffed prior to the expansion) and the money was never allocated by those holding the purse strings to hire and train the personnel. People bitch and complain about the HCSO budget. You can’t have a smaller budget and hire more people to properly and safely staff the jail. It’s just not possible no matter how you allocate personnel (and law enforcement officers cannot just go work in the jail, they aren’t trained or certified corrections officers…just like corrections officers can’t just go work patrol.) That’s not really a solution to move guys back and forth even if it was possible since both sides are short.
I worked out there at one point and virtually every week anyone who wanted to max out their OT hours could do so because every shift was short and there were so many inmates on constant watch (which requires an officer to do nothing but sit in a booth and watch that person on camera which takes someone off the floor.) You can only run things so long in that manner before your staff gets burned out, corners get cut, and people get hurt or killed.
George,
Thanks for your service at the HCDC. I will agree that short staffing at the jail is not entirely the fault of the Sheriff. It does take money to hire officers. That said, it is also the job of the Sheriff to make his case for additional manpower and to map out the consequences of not providing sufficient staff to ensure both employee and inmate safety. This article is testimony to the consequences of insufficient staff and, as you point out, the burn out of employees when they are pushed beyond their capabilities.
The Sheriff needs to decide where his priorities should be. He has recently lost two senior leaders at the HCDC because he refuses to see the truth with regard to jail staffing and operations. He has the highest death rate at the HCDC of any Harford County Sheriff. I don’t suspect he is proud of such a record, but what is he really doing to make it better? That is the real question George, what is Jesse doing to make it better.
wonder if this is going to become like the Ford case?
bottom line is if someone wants to commit suicide, their is nothing your going to do that is going to stop it. you may prevent it for a couple of days or even weeks but eventually it will happen. dont blame the CO’s, balme is on the person for his or her selfish actions or for the friends and family members that failed to help him. HCDC can only babysit and do so much. And no i do not work there, just stating something that is obvious.
@Really,
I do not entirely disagree with your post, but the facts are that his mother DID prevent him from taking his life and yet while incarcerated and under the “constant watch” and care, he was successful in killing himself. Obviously, the “constant watch” failed, the Sheriff (through his spokeswoman) wants to again deceive the public as to how this occurred and the truth behind this suicide remains hidden. There are rumors are that people have been fired because of this case. Have you heard this from the Sheriff or his spokeswoman? Of course not, same as his covering for Mark Forwood. With Jesse, the truth is to be hidden or clouded as much as possible. Keep digging DaggerPress, there is certainly more to the story yet to come!
Take a look at the above picture of a cell area. Notice the distance from the floor up to the top bunk that a person could tie a sheet or something else to in order to hang themselves. Do you see that a person would have to tie something around their neck and then place themselves in a sitting position to be able to hang themselves from a bunk. Is that possible…sure, but not an easy thing to do as your feet reach the floor. Could be the reason he was not completely dead when he was found, but had been deprived of adequate oxygen long enough that full recovery was not possible.
If mental health determined that Mr. Kelly needed to be around others, it seems strange that he would be placed in a direct supervision area, as opposed to a general population dormitory area. In direct supervision you have private cells where you can stay out of view from others, the perfect setting for a suicide attempt. In a regular dorm area it is all open with rows of bunks where everyone can see if you attempt to hang yourself. Why would you place someone like Mr. Kelly in a housing area where he can move out of the officer/and others sight line for extended periods. Just doesn’t make sense, and in my opinion, facilitated Mr. Kelly being able to hang himself.
I have heard that the Psych Dr runs that jail. I would think that a person would be down graded from say a special watch, to a differant type of watch. It seems in this case it went from one extreme to the other. I guess the Psych Dr must have good insurance.
Could have been said better……If a person wants to commit suicide there is nothing going to stop him. It is a selfish act that leaves family and friends wondering if there is anything they could have done. But I do feel for the family and that does not lessen the pain of losing a loved one.
On a serious note….anyone running for sheriff….what would you do to make working conditions (for staff) better at the detention center……don’t respond here….you know how to get the word out!
Tune into WBAL 1090 AM tomorrow (Tuesday) at 6:38 a.m. to hear me discuss this story and other top headlines.
Here we go again: “University of Maryland R. Adams Crowley Shock Trauma Center.” R with no period, not R.; Cowley, not Crowley. At least the reference to University of Maryland is correct. Are there no editors on this site?
Ive said it before and I’ll say it again, if someone is hell bent on committing suicide, you may be able to delay the act while they are incarcerated but they will eventually complete the act. The correctional officers at the DC do their best but truth be told, they, and the inmates are at the whim of the pysch and medical department higher ups trying to politic the sheriff with fudged numbers and paperwork to get what they want. Everybody is digging in the wrong place for crying out loud. I understand it’s easiest to blame the people in uniform. Nowadays it’s not that popular to be an authority figure for some reason despite the nature of the job but, in this case it’s the people behind the scenes that need to be investigated.
@Mad,
So who’s digging? Should someone be looking into these deaths? Is there something more we should know?
@bobbie p
Short answer yes. As I said, everybody is digging in the wrong places. The media in the dagger has been digging thats who. The psych department at the dc wants to justify their existence and open up their new place in the new dc addition. To do that, steps are being taken by the psych Dept that put people in jeopardy, even people that don’t have particular problems. There’s a start…
@MAD,
I was told that the Deputies of HCDC have a union. Is the union going to get involved with all of the wrong doing crap that is going on? Is the HCDC union effective at doing anything? Perhaps its just a group of people who pay their union dues, elects someone their spokesperson who has their own agenda, and the Deputies be dammed.
@Bobbie p
The union doesn’t get involved in things like this. It’s more set up for disciplinary, legal and fiduciary issues involving deputies, not things I previously discussed. The union is sometimes effective, and sometimes worthless. Sometimes it depends on who you are. And that’s not exclusive to HCSO, it happens everywhere. This problem has to be fixed by the people at the very top, but that’s where the problems are. I think you may misunderstand me, im mad, hence my tag, because I see through the BS and I want things to change for the best and the people who do wrong to be held accountable. I want people to see things for how they really
are. The lying needs to stop.
@MAD,
What is the “top” lying about? If you and the other Deputies know what the lies are then point them out. Better yet, get together as a union and show up at the County Council meetings with signs. Walk around the Sheriff’s Office with signs pointing out the lies. Start a letter writing campaign to the local media pointing out the lies. Do this as an organized group of people, then you will get attention, especially if you are right.
This comment is directed to the reporter, the editor, the newspaper staff and the readers of such tasteless reporting. What did this article accomplish? All this article did was cause hurt and pain to the family that is trying to heal! Why did Christopher’s personal, troubled life have to be posted for everyone to see? Who was behind you writing this? Things that you wrote in this article the family themselves didn’t even know and it did not need to be aired publicly. Yes, he was troubled and that is why putting him jail for a violation of probation was completely ridiculous! He should have been in a facility to HELP him! It was the FOURTH time the police was called to the house for suicide attempts. It is very clear that all the police were concerned with was fulfilling a violation on Christopher. They were not trying to help him. Some parts of the night of the arrest were left out…I guess they didn’t fit with your motive for writing this trash. Just exactly what was your motive for writing this? Why did you have to drag Chris’ name AGAIN through the mud like this causing embarassment and more hurt to the family? Christopher is gone………As far as I am concerned this article is horrendous!!! To all you people that responded by saying “he would have taken his life any way and he was just another troubled youth” SHAME ON YOU FOR THINKING THAT WAY! I hope you never personally experience this because EVERYONE’S LIFE IS WORTH EVERY PRECAUTION THAT SHOULD BE TAKEN TRYING TO PREVENT THIS FROM EVER HAPPENING!!!!!! Let Christopher rest in peace! You never once thought of the pain you would cause the family when you were writing this. You are heartless and I hope this newspaper loses readers because of this useless and hurtful journalism!!!
You read it and commented on it, just as everyone above you did. Why are you reading tasteless articles (your words, not mine) not worthy of publication? To top it all off, you don’t even use your real name. At least the person who wrote the article used his real name.
Anonymous: The public has a right to know about newsworthy issues in the county. This is one of them. The Aegis won’t print anything. Thank you Dagger for keeping us informed.
@Bobbie P
Im not a member of the HCSO anymore, I do what I can when it comes to media and trying to rally the deputies to make some noise. Doing some of the things you suggested though is complete career suicide (pardon the reference) for many officers. Taking a stand, in any department, for any issues can, and probably will destroy your career. Things have to be handled a lot more delicately than most people think. You know what works really well is when the general public starts to complain and demand action. County council reps and department heads listen to the public far more than you would ever believe. I’ll provide the truth and the facts to everyone but I have to leave it up to the people on this site along with the editor to run with the info. I can’t in my position.
@MAD,
You would be correct if only a few participated. That’s why I stated that this must be done by groups of people, and hopefully with union sanctioned approval through a majority vote of the members. The absence of an organized group of Deputies stating the same thing leads others to believe that the problems surfaced by those commenting in this forum is limited to a few malcontents in the HCSO, and calls into question the validity of their comments.
The idea that the Detention Center “union” could accomplish anything like this right now is laughable. The members are so afraid of the consequences of speaking their mind that they have stopped attending the meetings completely. Things that are said during the meeting reach the sheriff before they even reach the members that missed the meeting. The focus of every officer at the DC has shifted from making the job better or more tolerable to learning what actions or omissions can get you fired to make sure you cover your ass. As an officer you are made responsible for 50-100 inmates during the course of your shift and given 10 hours worth of paperwork and documentation to complete in an 8 hour period of time. The mental health professionals are abusing their power to the point there are so many people on constant watch or 15 minute watch that the people that are really at risk are lost in the mix. As as officer you don’t know if someone is on constant watch because he has previous suicide attempts or because he raised an eye brow at the doctor. We have even seen the guy with known suicide attempts downgraded to a 15 minute watch in general population to make room on constant watch for the guy that cussed at the doctor. Unless you work there, you can’t begin to speculate how afraid the officers are of speaking the truth or of focusing on anything other than providing for their families.
Sounds like conditions are barely tolerable for the CO’s. Something big and bad will happen due to overworked, overwhelmed and overloaded officers. It will then be their fault and not the administrations. I feel sorry for them but like previously said, they are stuck, they can’t say anything about their working conditions because if they do, they’re done. The arrogance of those in power is deteriorating the morale of the CO’s who are doing the best they can under deplorable circumstances.
Wow, what do you mean when you say they couldn’t accomplish such a thing right now? What are they lacking? Who is the union affiliated with? You don’t align yourself with an organization just to give them money. You are supposed to get something in return…advice, support, leadership, etc.. What about leadership at the DC? Are they all in the Sheriff’s and Mental Healths pocket? Is the current DC leadership all about nothing? How can things be so bad unless the leadership is just a bunch of losers?
If you have been keeping up with the posts on here, the leadership of the DC jumped in the life rafts and headed for shore. Two out of the three captains were appointed in the last two years. The warden recently retired, followed by the major, not to mention the previous major retired not that long ago. The current mentality is that as long as we follow the doctor’s orders then liability is in his hands. So even if this so called medical professional were to tell us to give a suicidal subject a box of razor blades and 100 ft. of rope, there is a chance we would be ordered to do it.
BBC, that something bad has already happened. People have died and good officers lost their jobs. Hopefully there is nothing worse coming in the future.
Could be something very bad coming. The HCSO is in the process of hiring a new Warden, one which I am sure will be totally committed to the whims of the Sheriff, a Sheriff who will not take good advice when given if it conflicts with what he wants to do. Jesse is a my way or the highway kind of person. The new Warder will also inherit the HCDC current senior leadership. Enough said there!
@ King
It’s all true. Rats on a sinking ship. I don’t want to change the subject but there is another agency in the county in the same boat, but it seems everybody is afraid to take on this particular agency.
What agency are you talking about?
@ j
APG police is the agency I’m referring to.
UNBELIEVABLE! Just continuing to do my research and find it “mind bogelling” at times! Here we are — It is now March 2013, a year down the road and it’s about all of the same issues: problems with the leadership, the staffing, the safety, the plummeted morale, the no hope of Union help, name calling, “Rats on a Sinking Ship” -and- more deaths.
How do the staff continue to work under these circumstances? How can they be expected to do a good job and keep everybody safe when having to give so much attention to “CYA” (cover yo a__)? Sounds like a horrible place to go to work everyday?
What about the inmates? How is this all trickling down to them? They may have broken the laws and be there to pay their consequences -but- they still have rights too; like the right to be in a safe environment. If these deaths are still occurring — and they are — then something is lacking?
You all are pretty good at getting the information out there, alluding to a lot of what is wrong -but- you’re falling a bit short in getting the right information to the right people. I believe you post because some part of you really does care. But, verbalizing you care and ACTIVE:Y doing something about it are two different things.
Plenty of people along the way have given good, solid suggestions on how to become “pro active” in securing change; yet, you do not do what it takes to accomplish anything? When we do nothing it speaks volumes in regard to our true character and beliefs! We’re not suppose to just have an “opinion” about life — we’re suppose to be living it with a willingness to work toward changing what is wrong. Stand up! Choose a side and go with it!
Relative: People HAVE spoken up and guess what? They are gone. Terminated. Dismissed. Separated from employment. Whatever Jesse Bane chooses to call it. There is a fine line between doing the right thing and keeping your job to support your family. Different media outlets have been contacted but The Dagger is the only entity that will print anything. People like yourself need to get involved, not only by posting on here, but put the Sheriff on the spot. Demand to talk to him. Demand answers and not through his puppet spokesperson. Get your friends involved. Trust me, some of us have done everything we could and have paid the ultimate price.