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Hillsborough Jail Inmate Tried To Hang Self, Official Says

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TBO.com

Published: September 2, 2008

TAMPA A 28-year-old Falkenburg Road jail inmate with a history of mental problems tried to hang himself in his cell Monday. He remains in critical condition tonight, authorities said.

Raphael Lopez was found hanging by a detention deputy at 5 p.m. Monday, according to Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies. The detention deputy who was there to feed the inmate saw Lopez standing next to the door with what appeared to be one end of a sheet around his neck and the other looped around the door jamb.

Emergency workers began chest compressions and utilized other methods to keep Lopez alive, deputies said. County paramedics arrived and took Lopez to Tampa General.

Lopez was booked into the jail March 14, according to records. He was being held on charges of burglary of an occupied dwelling and criminal mischief.

Deputies said he was being held in the administrative confinement section of the jail, meaning he occupied a single cell in an area of 16 total single cells. Deputies said he was not a suicide threat or kept under any special watch or restrictions, even though he had come to the jail Florida State Hospital for a competency hearing.

Lopez had spent a year in the mental hospital after being ruled incompetent to stand trial in February 2007, records show.

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