SUFFIELD, Conn. (WTIC Radio) - An inmate, serving a 20 year sentence on sexual assault, has died by an apparent suicide at MacDougal-Walker Correctional Institution earlier Thursday morning.
The Connecticut Department of Correction says Jaishon Bellamy, 27, of East Hartford, was found around 2:30 a.m. during a regular check when his cell window was found covered.
After being ordered to remove the covering and not doing so, staff entered the cell to find Bellamy with a bedsheet tied around his neck and tied to a bedframe.
Bellamy was then transported to Saint Francis Hospital where he was pronounced dead around 3:48 a.m.
He began serving a 20-year sentence on a sexual assault charge on August 15, 2015, stemming from a case when he was a teenager.
While DOC officials say Bellamy was moved from Osborn Correctional to MacDougal-Walker Correctional on Monday, it is not being officially confirmed whether Bellamy was the suspect who allegedly assaulted and injured a Correction Officer at Osborn. However, the same suspect, who was serving "20 years for other sexual crimes" according to the AFSCME Council 4 union, was moved to MacDougal-Walker after the incident.
The State Medical Examiner's Office is tasked with determining the exact cause of death.