Disabled inmate hangs herself in Dallas County jail

A 55-year-old disabled woman hanged herself in her jail cell Sunday night. It was the first in-custody death of the year at the Dallas County jail.

Merna Argovitz Kann, who used a wheelchair and was serving a six-month term for a misdemeanor theft conviction, took off her jail jumper, tied it around her neck and around shelving in her cell, and hanged herself, according to the Dallas County Sheriff's Department.

Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Don Peritz said a jailer discovered Ms. Kann's body at 10:15 p.m. Sunday in her single cell in the north tower of Lew Sterrett Justice Center. Jail logs show that she was last seen alive 30 minutes before a jailer called paramedics.

Ms. Kann was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead an hour later.

Though Ms. Kann's apparent suicide was the jail's first in-custody death this year, Sgt. Peritz said, there were 16 in 2002, with the last two resulting from inmate medical problems Dec. 10 and 28. Sheriff's records show that more than 95,000 people were booked into the jail last year, with the average daily prisoner population exceeding 7,000, Sgt. Peritz said.

Sheriff's investigators are studying whether jailers properly followed procedures in monitoring and caring for Ms. Kann.

Sgt. Peritz said the Richardson woman was not listed as suicidal when she checked into jail Jan. 1 to begin serving her sentence. A judge convicted Ms. Kann in December for theft under $50, the latest of a string of petty theft and drug convictions dating to 1982.

"It's really unfortunate that this would happen to anyone," Sgt. Peritz said. "But with so many people being processed through here, it's going to happen now and then."

Deandra Grant, who defended Ms. Kann on numerous occasions in the last four years, said her client was a "difficult person who also had a lot of medical problems."

"Still, I was surprised by the news of her suicide," Ms. Grant said. "Merna told me she wouldn't survive her jail sentence, but she was talking about her health problems, not hinting at suicide."

Arrest reports show that most of Ms. Kann's crimes were petty and rarely involved her using a wheelchair, prompting authorities to question how serious her disabilities were.

Including Ms. Kann, eight people have committed suicide while in jail custody in the last five years.

Last fall, the families of two mentally ill prisoners who committed suicide while in custody sued the county, alleging that the jail's psychiatric unit failed to properly medicate and care for the two, a 36-year-old Dallas woman with bipolar disorder and a 27-year-old Richardson man with schizophrenia.

Sgt. Peritz and Ms. Grant said Ms. Kann did not have a history of mental illness.

Rest in peace...

Arrest reports show that most of Ms. Kann's crimes were petty and rarely involved her using a wheelchair, prompting authorities to question how serious her disabilities were.

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