There were three cardboard boxes and Bourgeois's TV. The boxes mostly held legal papers, books, and white T-shirts. There was no sign of the suicide note -- a note the department had first denied existed. Hook-DiMarino saw the text of the note in an investigative report: "Consider my sentence paid in full ... there was no one I could ask for help without being put in worse living conditions than I am in already."

Bourgeois was serving a life sentence for his role in a murder at age 23.