Alaska prisons officials refuse to say how confessed serial killer Israel Keyes obtained a razor before his jail-cell suicide.
The state Department of Corrections denied a public records request from The Associated Press that seeks to determine whether the 34-year-old Keyes was allowed to have a razor, which he used to slit a wrist. The state cites prisoner confidentiality and "anticipation of litigation."
Keyes, who also strangled himself, was found dead Dec. 2.
Keyes was awaiting a March trial in federal court in the 2012 slaying of 18-year-old Anchorage barista. He was in state custody in Anchorage because there are no federal prisons in Alaska.
Alaska Officials Mum on Israel Keyes' Suicide
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Comments (11)
Add / View comments | Discussion FAQQuestion should not be about how Keyes got the razor but why it was not collected back. Simple fact is, if you are not on suicide watch, any inmates at Anchorage Correctional Complex may get a razor. They are issued in the morning and by 1000 hrs, they are all collected. This is no state secret. Every staff and inmate knows this. It even written in the inmate handbook. What went wrong was why the razor issued to Mr. Keyes was NOT collected back and how the officer and his supervisor missed it.
Mr. Keyes was not housed in the mental health ward at the time of his death. He was in one of these segregation units. He had no roommate but he was not on suicide watch. 30 minute security check is required but due to staff shortage at night shift, there may be a time when the seg unit officer may have to leave the unit to do checks in other units. Thanks to DOC's effort to save money, low lite LCD bulbs are use, making viewing into cells very hard.
Needless to say, Mr. Keyes' suicide is a collective failure of command from top to bottom.
Frankly I am sick and tired of hearing about this person. Exactly who is it helping here? No more justice can be served, the victims are way past gone now, don't mean to be harsh but true. There is nothing else that can be done, let the FBI do their profiling and let it be. There has been too much publicity given to this creep, and people have to be able to move on with thier lives. I think only anger and hostility can come from anything more that is done. Let God be his judge now.
Not only was Samantha let down , but so were the other victims who will now always have to wonder if the killer of their loved one has escaped capture. The government should leave no stone unturned to find out who allowed this man to kill himself before we could get more information from him. The handling of this abduction, and the prosecution of this man were bungled bad. Worse than I have ever seen.