The hanging death of a female prisoner has provoked a showdown between the D.C. Council and the city’s Corrections Department, which has refused to release its findings in the case.
In a tense confrontation before the Council Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary, Corrections Director Devon Brown refused to answer questions about the circumstances surrounding the March 1 suicide of 32-year-old Alicia Edwards, citing executive privilege.
Jail officials in March initially released false information describing where Edwards died and how she was being monitored. Officials originally sent a news release stating that Edwards’ suicide occurred in the mental health unit, where inmates are monitored every eight minutes. They later corrected themselves, saying she was housed in the intake section.
Council Member Phil Mendelson said Brown was needlessly raising suspicions about Edwards’ death by keeping the report confidential. The investigation into the hanging, the second suicide in four months, was conducted by the Department of Corrections.
Mendelson said he’d be willing to subpoena the document.
“You’re just creating some confrontations where there doesn’t need to be,” Mendelson said.
Earlier in the hearing, Brown angered Mendelson and Council Member David Catania when they began to question Vincent Keane, the chief executive officer of Unity Healthcare, about Edwards’ suicide.
Keane stopped in mid-testimony after Brown whispered a message to him through the legal counsel. Keane then told the committee that the corrections agency wouldn’t allow him to talk about the Edwards case.
Brown later said he was only reminding Keane that the information was supposed to be kept confidential on the advice of the D.C. attorney general. Edwards was awaiting trial on shoplifting charges when she was flagged for mental health problems. The jail reportedly failed to perform the required in-depth mental assessment before Edwards hanged herself while alone in her cell.
