DOC identifies inmate who died in apparent suicide

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — An inmate who died of an apparent suicide at the Osborn Correctional Institution in Somers has been identified as 48-year-old Edwardo Velasquez of Bridgeport.

The Department of Correction says workers conducting routine checks found him with a bed sheet tied around his neck around 3 a.m. Tuesday. The state medical examiner's office will determine the exact cause of death.

It would be the third suicide this year inside Connecticut's correction system. There was only one inmate suicide last year. Four were reported in 2010 and three in 2009.

Correction officials say Velasquez was serving a 3 ½-year sentence with a controlling charge of possession of less than four ounces of marijuana or controlled substance among other offenses. He had been alone in his cell.