An inmate housed in the maximum security section of the Pinellas County Jail was found dead late Monday, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.
Jackie Allen Randall, 29, was found hanging from a bedsheet in his single-person cell during a routine check and pronounced dead about 10:44 p.m., deputies said.
The Sheriff’s office homicide and internal affairs detectives are investigating the death, which is standard procedure, deputies said.
Randall, of Temple Terrace, was being held on numerous felony charges, including attempted first-degree murder on a law enforcement officer and escape, deputies said.
Randall has tried to escape two times. He first tried to run from St. Petersburg police in September 2010. A month later, he tried running from Hillsborough County deputies.
In the October attempt, Randall complained that he had a condition that didn’t allow him to walk. A doctor recommended him for further evaluation and he was taken to the Bloomingdale Radiology Center, 3350 Bell Shoals Road. As he was taken back to the transport van, he hopped from his wheelchair and ran.
When the deputies caught up to him, Randall reached for one of their guns and ripped the holster. That’s when one of the deputies pulled out a baton and hit Randall on the head. He was eventually subdued.
In 2000, Randall was sentenced to 10 years in prison on robbery and cocaine possession charges. He was released three days after Christmas in 2009, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.
St. Petersburg police arrested him in September 2010 and charged him with robbing a Circle K that day and snatching a woman’s purse May 28. He was also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
They said Randall was a suspect in several robberies around Tampa Bay.
More than a month after his St. Petersburg arrest and escape attempt, Randall was transferred to the Hillsborough County Jail Oct. 8 to be arraigned on a new robbery charge.
St. Petersburg Times
