Sheriff IDs inmate in apparent Columbus jail suicide, fears people are ‘struggling’

The Muscogee County Jail inmate who apparently hanged himself in his cell Friday had been held fewer than 48 hours on a charge of auto theft, authorities said.

Sheriff Donna Tompkins identified him as Thomas Scott Sawyers, 29, of Salem, Ala., who was being held on $2,500 bond.

She said Sawyers killed himself sometime after a cellmate was released from the jail around 10 a.m. Friday. Corrections officers distributing medication to inmates found Sawyers around 11:15 a.m., called medical staff and an ambulance and tried to revive him, but were unable to, Tompkins said.

Investigators with the sheriff’s office then secured the scene, and Tompkins called the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to probe Sawyers’ death.

Born June 5, 1990, Sawyers was nearing his 30th birthday. Tompkins said he had a mental health screening after he was booked into the facility, but showed no obvious symptoms of illness or distress.

“He had been to the jail a couple of times, but he certainly was not in jail on serious charges,” the sheriff said.

She noted the jail population currently is down to 855, after authorities pushed to release as many inmates as possible during the COVID-19 outbreak, to avoid overcrowding. The jail’s capacity is 1,069.

“We have had as many as 1,200, so I think this is very sad, in the sense that you come back to, even though you have a very low population, there are still people that are struggling, and what strikes me is that many of these people that are struggling, they’re not telling anybody that they’re struggling,” Tompkins added.

“I think that’s probably the same for the general public as well,” she said.

Call the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-8255 if you or someone you know is in distress. The free, confidential service is available 24/7.

This story was originally published May 15, 2020 at 2:21 PM.