A female inmate died Monday morning at the Mat Su Pre-Trial Facility in Palmer; 37-year-old Tisha Rochdi was found unresponsive in her cell around 6:30 this morning, according to the state Department of Corrections. Sherrie Daigle, is deputy director of administration for the corrections department.
“The female inmate was actually in a dorm-type setting with 19 other female inmates,” Daigle says. “The other inmates did notice that she was unresponsive; they notified corrections officials immediately. Corrections staff responded and began CPR and notified emergency medical services and an ambulance responded.”
Rochdi was pronounced dead shortly past 7:00 this morning, after CPR efforts failed. The State Medical Examiner’s Office will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
According to Alaska State Troopers, there is no sign of foul play.
Daigle says, in light of a hearing on prison deaths conducted earlier this summer, the corrections department has made changes in it’s death investigation policy and information about the death is made public online.
Rochdi was in prison on probation violation charge related to a felony DUI.
APTI Reporter-Producer Ellen Lockyer started her radio career in the late 1980s, after a stint at bush Alaska weekly newspapers, the Copper Valley Views and the Cordova Times. When the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Valdez Public Radio station KCHU needed a reporter, and Ellen picked up the microphone.
Since then, she has literally traveled the length of the state, from Attu to Eagle and from Barrow to Juneau, covering Alaska stories on the ground for the AK show, Alaska News Nightly, the Alaska Morning News and for Anchorage public radio station, KSKA
elockyer (at) alaskapublic (dot) org | 907.550.8446 | About Ellen
