Sheriff Andrea Cabral in Boston staunchly defended policies at the Nashua Street Jail yesterday and said the suicide of her jail's highest-profile inmate would not lead to any changes in how detainees are monitored, reports the Boston Globe. While Cabral did not rule out the possibility that mistakes were made by her staff, she said the death of alleged Craigslist killer Philip Markoff will not trigger new policies on how often jail officers check on inmates or the materials inmates are allowed to keep in their cells.
Markoff, a 24-year-old former medical student, was facing murder charges in the fatal shooting of Julissa Brisman, a 25-year-old masseuse from New York, who police said met Markoff after he responded to her ad on Craigslist. A spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley said that Markoff had been dead for at least 30 minutes before his body was found at 10:06 a.m. Sunday by a jail officer. The precise time of Markoff's death and how long his body went undiscovered, could play a key role in determining whether the officers on duty at the time were vigilant in ensuring that Markoff was alive during their regular rounds, which Cabral said are supposed to take place every half-hour. “We have an indication that the individual was dead for more than 30 minutes before they found him, so something doesn't square there,'' said Peter Costanza of Prisoners' Legal Services, an organization that advocates for prisoner rights.