Matthew Holmes
Matthew Blake Holmes, 28, earned an electrical technology degree at Calhoun County Community College and made the Dean's List, and his mother, who raised him and three brothers, remembers him as a son who was working toward his future. He died on February 14, 2019, at Limestone Correctional Facility in Alabama, where the Alabama Department of Corrections ruled his death a suicide. According to a federal judge's ruling, Matthew was moved from mental health observation to segregation about 12 hours before he hanged himself from a light fixture, and the ruling says he had attempted suicide twice before without being placed on suicide watch. His mother said the prison told her little and that he had been begging for help, and a lawsuit brought by his family through attorney Mitch McGuire says the state failed to provide adequate mental health care.
Cause of death, as reported: Died by suicide (disputed; neglect alleged). The Alabama Department of Corrections ruled his death a suicide, and his family's lawsuit says the state failed to provide adequate mental health care, while U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson's ruling says he had attempted suicide twice before and was not placed on suicide watch after being moved to segregation.
Reported by: Alabama Department of Corrections (the agency that held him); U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson (court); Families, through attorney Mitch McGuire in a lawsuit (family or their lawyers).
Lawsuit: His family sued the state over inadequate mental health care, through attorney Mitch McGuire, and no settlement or award amount has been reported.