Man Jumps At The Ramsey County Jail, And Fellow Inmates Save Him Using A Laundry Cart

Deonte Blackwell, from left, Austin Dirkx and Rodolfo Hernandez del Angel talk at the Ramsey County jail

Fellow Inmates save suicidal man with a laundry cart

It was a normal day at the Ramsey County jail until a shout from a correctional officer grabbed the attention of inmates nearby.

Deonte Blackwell turned around from the television he was watching and saw another inmate was on the second floor, getting ready to climb over the railing. The officer was telling the inmate to get off the guardrail.

“I jumped up like, ‘Oh my goodness, I cannot believe this is happening right now,’ ” Blackwell said Friday. “I knew something wasn’t right, so I rushed over there.”

He figured the man would immediately jump, and he initially thought he could catch him. But then he realized the man was hesitating. Blackwell saw a laundry cart out of the corner of his eye and knew it was his chance to grab the cart and position it underneath the man.

Working together with two other men who are also locked up at the Ramsey County jail, they were able to safely catch the man in the wheeled bin.

“Those three guys are heroes,” said Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher on Friday, the day after he met and commended them. “They saved another inmate. … There’s far more humanity in our jail than most people think.”

Blackwell is in jail for a DWI. “I think there’s a hero in everybody,” he said. Austin Dirkx is also in for DWI. “We’re not all bad, here some of us have good hearts,” Dirkx said. Rodolfo Delangel is serving time for drug possession and faced deportation. “Just because we are locked up doesn’t mean that life is not important,” Delangel said.

As the Ramsey County jail and other detention centers see more people struggling with mental illness, officials say they have been focusing on improving services for inmates and making their facilities safer.

According to the Minnesota Department of Corrections, about 10 detention facilities in the state have added higher railings or already had enhanced railings. The Ramsey and Washington county jails are the latest to take on the projects.

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