A resident of the New Hampshire prison system’s psychiatric facility died Saturday after a fight with correctional officers, state officials said Monday.
Officials had previously announced an “untimely death” at the Secure Psychiatric Unit, which is run by the New Hampshire Department of Corrections and on the grounds of the state prison in Concord, but had provided few other details.
The New Hampshire Department of Justice said in a news release Monday that Jason Rothe, 50, “was involved in a physical altercation with several corrections officers in the SPU” early Saturday afternoon.
Officers noticed Rothe was unresponsive after the fight, according to the department. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
The department said the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner conducted an autopsy Sunday, and the “cause and manner of Mr. Rothe's death are inconclusive and are pending further investigation.”
The Department of Corrections said Monday that the officers involved in the altercation with Rothe are on administrative leave pending an investigation.
The Secure Psychiatric Unit houses some people who have not been convicted of a crime, but are civilly committed after being deemed a potential danger to themselves or others.
Spokespeople for the Department of Corrections and Department of Justice declined to comment on whether Rothe was civilly committed or serving a criminal sentence.
Rothe’s name does not appear in the Department of Corrections’public database of prison inmates, and the New Hampshire courts’ online case information system does not list any recent felony cases under his name.
