Jail Suicide Lawsuit

By: Associated Press

Updated: Tue 2:48 PM, May 25, 2004

The mother of a boy who committed suicide while in the Hall County Jail has settled her lawsuit against authorities.

Donna Carter of Monticello, Indiana, settled the lawsuit last week with Hall County and state officials. Her son, 17-year-old Joshua Treichler, was found hanging by a towel in his cell on Oct. 12, 2000.

Carter claimed county and state officials failed to properly monitor her son, who had a history of mental problems.

Treichler was getting into trouble with the law in Indiana and ran away. He was arrested in Wood River on burglary charges and taken to the Hall County Jail.

Carter said her son told the booking officer at the jail that he had twice attempted suicide in the past. She said the officer gave her son a towel and blanket and that jail personnel put him in a cell block alone.

A grand jury reviewed Treichler's death and said the corrections department did nothing wrong. However, the grand jury recommended that the county improve its monitoring of juvenile inmates.

Carter said, "This is something that did not need to happen."

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