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A 46-year-old man who was found unresponsive in a jail cell Friday may have committed suicide, the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department said.
The man, whose name was withheld until his family is notified, was found about 3:16 p.m. in Maguire Correctional Facility, the department said in a statement.
A routine cell check had been conducted in the general population pod shortly before correctional officers discovered the man, according to the department.
Correctional officers and the jail’s medical staff were unsuccessful in saving his life, the sheriff’s department said.
The San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office, coroner’s office, and sheriff’s detectives are conducting independent investigations to determine the official cause of death, according to the sheriff’s department.
“At this time, initial information suggests the cause of death to be suicide,” the department said.
The coroner’s office will make the final determination.
This is the sixth death to occur at the jail in recent months.
On Jan. 15, around 8:45 a.m., a nurse noticed a 23-year-old man had difficulty breathing. Life-saving measures were taken, and first responders were called in from the Redwood City Fire Department, but the man died. The man was housed in the 4 East Housing Detox Unit, which often houses people who are experiencing withdrawal symptoms from alcohol or drugs.
In October 2023, 64-year-old Peter McLaughlin of Pacifica died from a glioblastoma — a brain tumor. He was found unresponsive in his jail cell on Oct. 20, 2023, at 5:10 a.m. His death was deemed natural, according to a coroner’s report. A toxicology report also “presumptively identified naloxone in the iliac blood sample.”
Just one day later, on Oct. 21, 2023, officers found 34-year-old man Ronald Simmons, a San Bruno resident, who was housed alone, unresponsive, hanging from a bedsheet in his cell. Authorities said officers began administering CPR until medical personnel station at the facility arrived and pronounced the man dead. The inmate was housed in the jail’s behavioral health unit. A toxicology report found no blood or alcohol in his system.
In January 2023, a 25-year-old woman, Maycarla Fernando Sulapas, suffered a medical emergency in the jail’s intake and booking section and died at a nearby hospital about three hours later.
In October 2022, correctional officers found Matthew Britton, 34, unresponsive in his cell during a safety check. The sheriff’s office said at the time that he likely died of natural causes.
Former Palo Alto Weekly reporter Sue Dremann contributed to this report.
