Joshua Roush
Joshua Roush, 36, died by apparent suicide at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, Massachusetts, on October 28, 2025, according to the state Department of Correction, which listed it as an apparent suicide. A person held in the Residential Treatment Unit told Prisoners' Legal Services that recreation time had been cut in half and that several people had told staff they were suicidal before his death. The Department of Correction has not accepted that account, and an independent review has been ordered. An earlier Globe report dated the death to the Sunday before the state announced its review, and the department called it the sixth such death among incarcerated men in 2025.
Cause of death, as reported: Died by suicide (disputed; neglect alleged). The Massachusetts Department of Correction describes the death as an apparent suicide, while a fellow prisoner told Prisoners' Legal Services that several people had told staff they were suicidal before his death and an independent review has been ordered.
Reported by: Massachusetts Department of Correction (the agency that held him); Prisoners' Legal Services (advocates); another person held in the unit.