Suicide suspected in Varner loss of life, sixth in state jail system this 12 months

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Matthew Ferry-Payne, a prisoner at Varner Supermax Unit in Lincoln County, was pronounced useless yesterday morning after his cellmate reportedly discovered him hanging by a bedsheet in his cell.

Lower than 4 months into 2024, his loss of life is the sixth suspected suicide in Arkansas prisons thus far this 12 months, and the third in April alone. There have been eight suicides in Arkansas prisons in all of 2023. 

An officer doing a safety spherical heard Ferry-Payne’s cellmate shouting for assist and responded to the cell, the place Ferry-Payne was discovered on the ground. The cellmate mentioned that he had woken as much as discover Ferry-Payne hanging by a sheet and pulled him down to try life-saving efforts, in line with a press launch from the Arkansas Division of Corrections. 

Makes an attempt by medical personnel to revive Ferry-Payne have been unsuccessful, and he was pronounced useless at 3:05 a.m. 

Ferry-Payne, 30, was serving a 10-year sentence from Benton County for 2 counts of second-degree battery, two counts of firearm possession by sure individuals and terroristic threatening. He was sentenced in October 2020, the press launch mentioned. 

Ferry-Payne had final been seen by a workers member 33 minutes earlier than he was discovered.

The Arkansas State Police are investigating the loss of life, and the Division of Corrections is conducting an inside investigation. 

The opposite suspected suicides this 12 months occurred on Jan. 1 at Varner Supermax, Feb. 6 on the Pine Bluff Unit, March 24 on the Most Safety Unit at Tucker, April 1 on the East Arkansas Regional Unit and April 3 on the Grimes Unit.

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