From Laurel Rosenhall and Loretta Kalb:
An inmate killed himself at the Sacramento County Main Jail on Saturday, sheriff's officials reported Sunday.
Around 4 p.m. Saturday a deputy found the 27-year-old inmate unconscious and not breathing, with a ligature tied around his neck. The inmate was the sole occupant of his cell. Medical staff were unable to resuscitate him and pronounced him dead at the scene, the sheriff's department reported.
The inmate, whose identity was not released Sunday, had been at the jail since Nov. 16 and was facing charges of burglary, possession of stolen property and probation violation.
The apparent suicide was the first of 2009 for the Sacramento jail. Last year, four inmates killed themselves at the main jail and in 2007 one inmate committed suicide, said sheriff's Sgt. Tim Curran.
The number of annual suicides at the main jail has dropped since 2002, when seven inmates killed themselves, six by hanging and one by overdosing on drugs. The rash of suicides in 2002 prompted the jail to review internal practices and stop issuing long socks and blankets that could be ripped into strips.
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