NEW BEDFORD, MASS. (WHDH) - A 34-year-old man who allegedly set his mother on fire died of an apparent suicide at the Ash Street Jail, according to the Bristol County DA’s Office.
Adam Howe, of Truro, was found in the New Bedford jail shortly after 3 p.m., when correctional officers noticed he was unresponsive. Correctional officers and nurses performed CPR on him before EMS rushed him to St. Luke’s Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased around 30 minutes after he was first found.
On Friday night, Howe was transported by Mass. State Police after his arrest to Cape Cod Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, where he was cleared to return to custody.
Still, Jail supervisors decided to place Howe on a security watch. Howe was alone in his cell in an isolated unit at the time of the incident and was wearing inmate clothing specifically designed for at-risk individuals, including a nylon rip-resistant smock. He was also subjected to random 15-minute spot checks.
The DA’s Office later said that Howe clogged his airways with wet toilet paper between checks, which caused the medical emergency.
“We’ve never had that happen at our facilities that way,” said Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson. “We don’t normally restrict the toilet paper, unless it’s a mental health watch – in mental health watch, we do.”
Still, Hodgson said the death may lead them to reevaluate procedure
“Any time we have any kind of a death at any of our facilities, it’s obviously a tragic thing for the family and for the staff as well,” he said.
No foul play is suspected, and the Chief Medical Examiner’s Officer will conduct an autopsy.
As 7NEWS previously reported, Howe was originally arrested and charged in connection with the murder of his 70-year-old mother in Truro on Friday. He was scheduled to be arraigned on Monday, Oct. 3.
Howe was brought into custody Friday night after emergency crews responded to a wellness check and a separate report of a fire around 9:30 p.m., only to discover him standing in the front yard of a home, next to a fire that first responders soon realized was a burning body.
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