By Liesl Goecker
The Salt Lake Tribune
SALT LAKE TRIBUNE — The inmate at the Purgatory Correctional Facility in Washington County who committed suicide Tuesday afternoon died of hanging, police said Thursday.
Keith R. Prach, 46, hanged himself with a bed sheet in his cell, said Hurricane police spokesperson Mindy Hatfield.
Deputies of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, which runs the jail, found him about 2:50 p.m., and jail medical staff members attempted to revive him before transporting him to Dixie Regional Medical Center, where he later died.
Deputy Kurt Bowen arrested Prach early Monday after Prach allegedly threatened his wife with a steak knife.
Prach was taken to jail Monday, then to Dixie Regional Medical Center where he was given medical clearance. While returning from the hospital to the jail, “Keith stated to me he would assault a guard this time because no one at the jail treats him right; they all just make fun of him,” Bowen stated in his report.
Prach appeared before a 5th District Court judge Monday on a charge of simple assault, a third degree felony. Prach had been arrested before for domestic violence and had a history of mental illness, Bowen wrote in an affidavit.
Hurricane police are investigating the suicide because the jail is within Hurricane’s city limits. An autopsy has been completed, Hatfield said, but detectives are awaiting toxicology reports before closing the investigation.
Copyright 2007 The Salt Lake Tribune