James Pietragallo

So the medical personnel were called.

There were towels in the bed soaked with blood.

And they said Simmons died from a self-inflicted laceration to his neck, apparently made with the blade of his disposable razor that had been melted into the handle.

Dang, he jammed it in there.

Yeah, melted it.

Somebody from the prison said, it's fair to say this as much surprised the staff as everyone else.

They said Simmons was not prone to cause problems for the staff, other inmates, or himself for that matter.

He seemed to do really well in any environment except freedom.

That's where he really had a problem, when he could just do whatever he wanted.

Yeah, I couldn't do that.

He left a suicide note maintaining his innocence in the suicide note.

They said, quote, with the exception of John Edward Swindler, who was executed in June of 1990 for killing a Fort Smith patrolman, Thomas Simmons was the most dangerous person I've come in contact with.

That's what the prosecutor said.

Yeah.

They said the type of disposable razor that a death row inmate apparently used to kill himself is available to all 6,500 state prison inmates, the spokesman said.

They said he appeared to have a self-inflicted laceration to the neck area that was inflicted, we believe, from a disposable razor.

The blade had been removed and it had been set in the handle.

He said, we don't have any reason to believe it was anything else but a suicide.

All inmates are allowed to have one unadulterated disposable razor.

And they said, we're talking about a disposable razor, not a straight razor.