CONNELL, Wash. (AP) — The mother of a man who killed himself at the Coyote Ridge Corrections Center is standing in for him at a graduation ceremony to receive the GED he earned behind bars before his death.
The Tri-City Herald reports Lazetta Lua of Kennewick will wear a cap and gown at Friday’s ceremony at the prison near Connell where 26-year-old Michael Araiza was found hanging May 21 alone in a cell.
He could not be revived. Prison spokeswoman Lori Woods said it was the first suicide at Coyote Ridge.
Araiza had been at the prison since November 2010, serving a sentence from King County for assault with a deadly weapon. He was set to be released in June 2013.
