Arizona inmate’s death is 4th prison suicide in 3 months

Authorities say an inmate has died, making him the fourth suicide death in Arizona’s state prison system in less than three months.

Arizona Department of Corrections officials say 32-year-old Dirk Vandeveer was found Friday hanging from a sheet in a dormitory shower area in a prison complex in Tucson.

Staff attempted life-saving measures until paramedics arrived.

Vandeveer was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Corrections officials say he was sentenced in 2018 in Phoenix to two years and six months for a narcotic drug violation and a dangerous drug violation.

An inmate died by hanging in a Florence prison last week, just two months after an inmate at the same complex was found under similar circumstances.

An inmate at a state prison in Phoenix also died by hanging on March 3.