Prisoner, 39, dies by apparent suicide in shower at Michigan's prison for women
Paul EganLANSING — Michigan State Police is investigating after officials say a prisoner died after apparently hanging herself Wednesday at the state's only prison for women.
It was the first suicide at Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility near Ypsilanti in nearly six years, said Chris Gautz, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Corrections.
But the mother of Natasha Marie Roark, 39, said Friday she cannot believe her daughter would have killed herself when she was due to be released in January. She said Roark's death should be investigated as a possible homicide.
An officer found Roark at about 12:45 p.m. Wednesday, in the shower area of her housing unit, Gautz said.
"The prisoner was immediately cut down and lifesaving measures were continued until health care staff and EMS arrived," he said, but those efforts were unsuccessful.
"The apparent cause of death was suicide by hanging," he said.
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Both the MSP and Corrections Department officials are investigating, he said.
Roark's mother, Sheila "Kathy" Lewis, said from Florida Friday that her daughter had both mental and physical health issues, suffering from psychosis and problems with one of her legs because she did not receive required physical therapy after a hip replacement. Roark was a widow and the mother of three daughters, ages 18, 14 and 9, Lewis said.
"It just doesn't make any sense — it's horrible," she said.
Roark grew up in Florida and was a marine biologist who worked for the city of Chicago but had struggled with alcoholism, her mother said.
Roark had frequently been held in segregation at the prison and feared some of the other prisoners as well as some of the officers, said Lewis, who added that she had recently bought a home in Florida for Roark to live with her daughters, upon her release.
Roark was sentenced in Livingston County in 2017 to up to five years in prison for impaired driving and, separately, for two counts of assaulting county jail officers, according to prison records and Lewis.
In November 2015, Janika Edmond, 25, who had a history of mental illness, used her bra to hang herself in a shower at the prison after officers allegedly placed a bet on whether she would become suicidal.
In 2019, the state agreed to pay $860,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by Edmond's family.
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4. Read more on Michigan politics and sign up for our elections newsletter.