CLEVELAND — A 28-year-old inmate at the Cuyahoga County Jail who was attempting suicide was stopped by a guard making his rounds.
The incident happened Tuesday morning, according to a Cuyahoga County spokesperson.
The inmate was standing on a toilet with a sheet wrapped around his neck when the guard found him. The inmate was transported to MetroHealth Medical Center as a precaution.
A psychiatric evaluation was ordered to be performed when the inmate returns to jail.
The name of the inmate, as well as the charges he was being held on, have not been released.
Last week, the county released new figures showing that the numbers of attempted suicides and suicides at the jail have steadily risen over the past three years.
In 2016, there were 23 suicide attempts, with one death. In 2017, that number rose to 42 attempts, one death. By the end of 2018, there had been 69 attempts and four deaths by suicide, according to a county spokesperson.
RELATED: New information shows suicide attempts at Cuyahoga Co. Jail were higher than previously reported
A total of eight inmates died in 2018. Those deaths included suicides, overdoses, natural causes and other factors.
The jail and its administrators have been under constant scrutiny since the U.S. Marshals report came out in late November 2018.
The report described a horrid picture of what inmates inside the jail are forced to live in. According to the report, incarcerated individuals live day-to-day in an inhumane environment and have their very basic civil liberties withheld — sometimes as a form of punishment by staff.
In the wake of the report, the U.S. Marshals, who hold their federal inmates at the facility, pulled them out of the downtown jail.
U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott said the jail review team found the Cuyahoga County Jail to be "one of the worst in the country."
RELATED: U.S. Marshals pulling out of downtown county jail following damning report
