An Arkansas Department of Correction inmate died early Tuesday morning at the maximum security East Arkansas Regional Unit in Brickeys.
He was discovered in his cell with a sheet wrapped around his neck, a prison spokesman said.
Kenneth Boucher, 44, who was found at 4:10 a.m. by correctional staff members delivering meals, was pronounced dead at 5:02 a.m. Tuesday. Prison staff immediately attempted to resuscitate him by performing CPR, prison spokesman Cathy Frye said in a news release late Tuesday.
When paramedics arrived, they called a Forrest City Medical Center doctor who pronounced Boucher's death about an hour after he was discovered.
The sheet had been woven through a grate in Boucher's cell, then wrapped around his neck.
The Arkansas State Police was notified.
"Special agents will investigate the circumstances of Boucher's death, which, at this time, appears to have been a suicide," Frye said in the news release.
Boucher, who was sent to prison June 26 on a probation revocation, was serving a four-year Marion County sentence for commercial burglary, theft of property and first-degree terroristic threatening.
In March, Boucher was arrested on numerous charges, including possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, aggravated assault and terroristic threatening. Boucher also allegedly had a gun, which he is prohibited from carrying.
There have been 35 Arkansas prison deaths since Jan. 1; there were 56 deaths in 2014.
Metro on 08/12/2015