A man being held at Two Bridges Regional Jail has hung himself, in the third suicide since Sagadahoc and Lincoln counties opened the facility on Wiscasset’s Route One in 2006, authorities told Wiscasset Newspaper. TBRJ is doing an internal investigation “as (is) normal procedure for any critical incident we have in the jail,” Col. James Bailey, TBRJ’s correctional administrator, said via email April 25.

Responding to questions, Bailey said staff found Kare Randall dead by hanging; no staff have been fired or placed on leave. In the days since Randall’s death, has TBRJ updated any procedures on supervision of inmates, and/or what items inmates have access to? “No changes have been made at this point,” Bailey said.

He did not know when the internal probe will be finished. “With any investigation we conduct, we are looking at the event as well as any recommendations to our policies (or) procedures to help in any future events,” Bailey explained.

Maine State Police investigate all jail deaths except in Portland and Bangor, Maine Department of Public Safety Spokesman Shannon Moss said. Moss told Wiscasset Newspaper the death of Kare Randall, 25, of Houston, Texas was investigated and was determined to be suicide. She said a report will go to Maine’s Attorney General’s Office and Department of Corrections. “MSP only investigates the circumstances of the death and not the facilities’ protocols or procedures,” Moss said.

Under the Attorney General’s Office’s protocol for investigating deaths, probable deaths, and missing persons, a death while in custody or confinement in a jail, “regardless of the likely cause, manner, and circumstances, is to be reported immediately to the Office of Chief Medical Examiner, (the Major Crimes Unit), and the Operations Division of the Department of Corrections. The Attorney General’s Office will thereafter review all investigative results.”

Attorney General’s Office spokesman Danna Hayes provided the protocol.

Maine Department of Corrections’ government affairs director, Samuel Prawer, told Wiscasset Newspaper, “In these circumstances our team is responsible for conducting an investigation into the (jail’s) operational practices, policies, and procedures ... to determine compliance with required standards. That investigation is separate from investigations conducted by Department of Public Safety or by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, and is standard procedure for all in-custody deaths in county correctional facilities.”

Because the investigation is ongoing, he did not have further information to provide, Prawer said.

Randall’s younger brother Joshua Sesay of Rockland shared a lot about Randall in texts April 25. “Kare was a very quiet person, he was protective of his family and his friends. He was very creative (and) thought of things nobody else could possibly think of ... ,” Sesay said. He said Randall served time – nine years, starting at age 15 – and when he got out, a lot of people “switched up on him who he thought would be there and he (encountered) broken promises.”

Sesay said his brother had never left the South in his life, never been on a plane, until two or three months ago, when Sesay flew him to Boston, picked him up and brought him to Maine “and showed him it was a different way of life.

“We went on boats, shot a music video in Portland together, we went on islands in Maine, an island called Vinalhaven, we went to New York. We did so much stuff that I know he would’ve never if he was in Texas, so I don’t regret bringing my brother out to Maine for a second, regardless of the loss. I know in my heart my brother had a good time out here, and if I could bring him back out here and do it all over, the only thing I would do different is I wish I would’ve paid attention to the signs he was giving me and his family that led to him killing himself,” Sesay said.

“He was the strongest person I ever met or knew, and I know whatever he was going through had to be bigger than he could handle, but I know my brother is free now and he’s gonna rest in peace.” 

The family wants to get Randall’s remains back to Texas and hold services. Randall’s sister Alicia Earles has started a gofundme campaign, “Help Bring Kare Home for Proper Farewell.” The page, with a $12,000 goal, states the family is “crushed that a love one has left us at an unexpected time in an unimaginable way. On behalf of Kare’s family we are asking for help in transporting him back home to Texas ... his insurance has denied us access to his funds, and at the moment we just desire ... to get him back to Houston ... and have proper services.”