By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The state Department of Corrections is investigating the death of a former Morton man, an inmate found unresponsive yesterday morning at the Monroe Correctional Complex.
Thirty-year-old Michael D Bryant was discovered about 7 a.m. unconscious and not breathing, and prison staff began providing lifesaving measures, including a call to 911, according to authorities. Local paramedics pronounced him dead at 7:29 am., DOC spokesperson Jeremy Barclay stated.
Bryant was being held in Monroe’s Special Offender Unit, a part of the facility opened in 1981 to treat and house seriously mentally ill offenders.
He was convicted in Lewis County Superior Court in early 2008 after repeatedly stabbing a woman he’d met at Cascade Mental Health in Chehalis, for no apparent reason. Bryant was about halfway through his 18-year-sentence.
Monroe’s Special Offender Unit is the same place where last year, a Lewis County man at the beginning of a five-year sentence died after an assault for which a fellow inmate was investigated. Gordon C. Powell Jr., 45, passed away May 18, 2015.
DOC spokesperson Barclay wrote in a news release yesterday that initial response indicates Bryant’s death was a result of an apparent suicide and a full review will be completed of the circumstances/incident.
DOC officials contacted local law enforcement and the county coroner’s office. Monroe Correctional Complex’s Intelligence and Investigations unit, along with local law enforcement, are investigating the matter, according to Barclay.
The prison located in Monroe, in Snohomish County, houses approximately 2,400 male inmates.