A 33-year-old inmate at Wildwood Pretrial Facility in Kenai died earlier this month from injuries sustained in a suicide attempt, corrections officials said Monday.
Kendall J. Barrett, 33, was the fifth inmate to die in an Alaska jail this year, according to Megan Edge, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections.
Barrett was booked Aug. 11, Edge said. He was accused of arson and felony assault in Sterling, court records show.
Two days later, at 5:30 p.m., a correctional officer found Barrett unresponsive in his cell, according to Edge.
Corrections officials and medical staff began performing life-saving measures at the scene, and continued to do so until an ambulance arrived to take Barrett to a local hospital, Edge said. On Aug. 14, at 7:48 p.m., Barrett was declared dead.
Edge declined to give further details on the circumstances of Barrett's death. The death will be reviewed by the Alaska State Troopers and the State Medical Examiner Office, which is standard procedure for all inmate deaths.
The Professional Conduct Unit in the Department of Corrections, which was created in 2017, will conduct an internal investigation.