A 37-year-old Anchorage jail inmate died Monday after he was found unresponsive in his cell from an "apparent suicide attempt" several days earlier, according to a statement from the Alaska Department of Corrections.
Correctional officers at the Anchorage Correctional Complex found Kristoffer Reuer unresponsive in his cell at 1:45 p.m. on Friday, said the statement. Reuer was in the jail's medical segregation unit, said Corey Allen-Young, Department of Corrections spokesman.
Allen-Young said officers and medical staff began "life-saving measures" on Reuer, including CPR. Anchorage EMS arrived at the jail and took Reuer to Alaska Regional Hospital at 2 p.m. Friday.
Reuer was pronounced dead at the hospital three days later, around 3:36 p.m. Monday, said the Department of Corrections statement.
Allen-Young said he could not provide information Monday about why Reuer was in the jail's medical segregation unit, citing medical privacy laws. He also said he could not provide additional details of the "apparent suicide attempt," citing an ongoing investigation.
Alaska State Troopers and the Medical Examiner Office review every inmate death and the Department of Corrections Professional Conduct Unit will also conduct an internal investigation, said the department's statement.
Reuer was only at the Anchorage jail for three days before he was found unresponsive. He was remanded on Nov. 15 on federal conspiracy drug charges, said the statement.
Allen-Young said he did not know when Reuer was put in the medical segregation unit.
Clare Sullivan, the deputy commissioner of institutions at the Department of Corrections, said the medical segregation unit is a place where sick or injured inmates can be monitored by medical staff. In a segregation unit, she said, inmates are typically checked about every 30 minutes, though in the medical units, those checks could take place more often.
"That's something that the doctor would prescribe," Sullivan said.
Reuer's death is the 10th in-custody death for 2016, said the department.