Staff Reports

Detectives from the Indiana State Police Versailles Post were asked Thursday morning to investigate the death of an inmate that was housed at the Jennings County Jail in North Vernon.

Shortly after 7:30 a.m., corrections officers with the Jennings County Sheriff’s Department located a female inmate, Sandra I. Ray, 35, of North Vernon, unresponsive in her cell, according to a news release from Sgt. Stephen Wheeles.

Wheeles, the public information officer for the Versailles Post, said corrections officers immediately began providing medical assistance and requested emergency medical services respond to assist.

Emergency personnel were unable to revive Ray, police said, and an official with the Jennings County Coroner’s Office responded and soon pronounced her deceased.

The sheriff’s department requested state police investigate the death. The investigation by detectives with the Versailles Post indicated Ray was incarcerated on a charge of operating while intoxicated after being arrested in the evening hours of Tuesday.

During her incarceration, Ray was housed in a cell by herself and was the only person in her cell at the time of her death, police said.

An autopsy was conducted Thursday morning in North Vernon, and the results of that autopsy as well as toxicology results are pending. No foul play is suspected at this time, police said.

The investigation is ongoing.

ISP is being assisted by the sheriff’s department, North Vernon Police Department, Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department, Jennings County Emergency Medical Services, North Vernon Fire Department and Jennings County Coroner’s Office.