Death-row inmate Troy Michael Kell remained hospitalized Friday after an apparent drug overdose Thursday.
Kell, 30, was found unconscious on the floor of his maximum security cell between 10 and 11 a.m. Thursday, said corrections spokesman Jack Ford. Kell had covered the window of his cell, so officers had to open the door to his cell to check on him.Once inside, officers found Kell lying on a syringe that he presumably used to inject heroin. Prison officials are treating the overdose as a suicide attempt because of a letter they found in his cell addressed to Kell's family.
Among other things, Ford said he wrote, "I wished I could have fulfilled your dreams."
Kell was taken to the prison's medical center, where he was stabilized. He was moved about 2 p.m. to University Hospital. Department spokesman Jesse Gallegos said Kell was conscious Friday and complaining of pain. A hospital spokeswoman said his condition was upgraded to fair Friday morning.
Salt Lake County sheriff's detectives are investigating Thursday's apparent overdose, while prison officials are investigating how Kell got heroin inside his maximum security cell.
Sheriff's Sgt. Jim Potter said that so far, it doesn't appear there was any foul play involved in the overdose.
"We're definitely concerned about (how Kell got the drugs)," Gallegos said. "And we'll take the appropriate action to find out how that happened."
Kell has been on death row since June 1996 when a jury decided he should die for stabbing another inmate to death in July 1994 in the Gunnison prison facility. He was convicted of using a 3-inch homemade knife to stab inmate Lonnie Blackmon 67 times while at least two other inmates held the victim down.
Blackmon's family is suing the Department of Corrections, asserting officers did nothing to stop the brutal attack.
After he was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to die, Kell was moved to the prison's Draper facility. Since moving there, Gallegos said Kell hasn't been much of a disciplinary problem.
Gallegos said he doesn't think the overdose was an escape attempt, and he said as far as he knows, it is the first time Kell has tried to end his own life.
Kell came to Utah in 1993 as part of an interstate agreement that allowed Utah to trade prison inmates with Nevada. He was convicted of murder and robbery in Las Vegas.
Ford said Kell is under tight security at the hospital.