WOMAN JAILED ON DRUG CHARGE COMMITS SUICIDE

DAYTONA BEACH -- A 38-year-old woman was found Thursday night hanged
in her jail cell, the victim of an apparent suicide, officials said Friday.

Muriel Comeau tied a shoestring to the top bunk of her cell at the
Volusia County Correctional Facility and hanged herself in what is
the jail's first suicide in almost six years, authorities said.
Efforts to resuscitate her failed and she was pronounced dead at 10:45 p.m.

The Ormond Beach woman was arrested Wednesday, charged with
possession of crack cocaine. The jail's mental-health staff judged
her demeanor as normal.

"There was no sign that she was despondent or suicidal," said Dave
Byron, spokesman for Volusia County, which runs the jail.

She leaves behind a husband and a 3-year-old son, according to court
records. Family members couldn't be reached for details of her personal life.

Comeau has also been arrested for driving while intoxicated and
simple battery. Last month, her husband, Donald, filed an injunction
against her.

Her suicide will be given a standard review, though no policy appears
to have been violated, Byron said.

Many inmates attempt suicide, partly because their life circumstances
are rough and often because they are abusing drugs that depress them,
Byron said. However, few succeed.

The last inmate to take his own life was Lawrence Boyd, 47, in January 2001.

Every inmate is screened for suicidal behavior through questions and
observation of visual cues, Byron said.

If inmates show suicidal signs, they are closely monitored and
receive nothing they can use to hurt themselves, Byron said. They
wear a paper gown and are wrapped in a special blanket too stiff to
use as a noose.

If no mental illness is observed, inmates get regular bedding and
toiletries, and they can wear their own shoes if they're worth less
than $50, Byron said.

Historically, most inmates commit suicide by hanging themselves, and
roughly half of all jail suicides happen in the first week of
confinement, according to an Associated Press report.

Comeau is the third local woman with a crack cocaine habit to kill
herself in recent months. Tara Price, 29, leaped from scaffolding in
July, and Raina Leigh O'Donnell, 26, jumped from a high-rise building
in August.

Abusing cocaine can lead to a deep depression because it floods the
brain with a pleasure chemical that quickly wanes, causing an
emotional plunge, said Dr. Douglas Davies, medical director at the
Stewart-Marchman Center.

Women who abuse cocaine are at a higher risk of suicide than men, Davies said.

The jail's counselors knew Comeau had a history of drug use and minor
violence, but didn't peg her as suicidal, Byron said.

"This is a case when they used all of their professional judgment,
and, unfortunately, the woman is dead," he said.