Rodriguez identified the guard as the same man who Bradley said mocked the dying or dead man as he hung from the sprinkler.
Campbell said he was prevented in December from interviewing three other Supermax prisoners because of the state police investigation. The corrections department also has prevented the Phoenix from interviewing Supermax prisoners. (See “Lockdown,” by Lance Tapley, December 15, 2006.)
In the fall, both Maine State Police lieutenant Gary Wright, head of criminal investigations for central Maine, and midcoast district attorney Geoffrey Rushlau told the Phoenix they knew nothing about an investigation of a Supermax guard in the Rideout death, though they both suggested state prison officials might be investigating the matter. The Phoenix is withholding the name of the guard, who reportedly has been forced to go on paid leave, pending more efforts to reach him.
Bradley, the former inmate, said Rideout had just been taken off suicide watch before he killed himself. Rideout had been put on watch, he said, because he had cut himself. Bradley and other prisoners said Rideout had complained that needed psychotropic medications had been taken away from him.
The Courier-Gazette article about the suicide quoted Merrill as saying the inmate was not considered a suicide risk. But Rideout had a history of headline-making suicide attempts.
In e-mails among state officials responding to word of Rideout’s suicide — obtained by the Phoenix after a Freedom of Access (freedom of information) request — concern was expressed that there might be negative publicity over the question of how his mental illness was treated.
“Debate between psychiatrists regarding mental health recommendations re this prisoner will become an issue,” Alan Stearns, Governor John Baldacci’s aide on corrections matters, warned top state officials the day after the suicide, using e-mail shorthand. “Written versus unwritten psychiatric conclusions may cloud.”
Stearns expressed concern that this incident might spur the Maine Civil Liberties Union to sue the state over Supermax conditions. The MCLU has been pressing corrections officials to improve prison conditions, but it has not filed a suit.
As for the Rideout family’s intended lawsuit, assistant attorney general Diane Sleek, who defends the Department of Corrections, said she does not comment on pending litigation.
