Peggy Chaffin cries while holding a picture of her son, Kevin McCown, who committed suicide while being incarcerated in the Hanceville City Jail Sept. 15, 2014. Chaffin asked the Hanceville City Council in October 2014 to remove a set of bunks from the jail cell where McCown died because they obstruct a camera jailers use to monitor inmates.

HANCEVILLE — The mother of a 23-year-old man who committed suicide inside the Hanceville City Jail last month pleaded with the City Council Thursday to remove a bunk inside the jail cell where her son died.

Kevin McCown died after tying a sheet to a bunk and strangling himself out of view from the jail’s security cameras. McCown was held in the Hanceville City Jail on a failure to appear charge for traffic violations. He was also wanted for an unspecified outstanding warrant in Jefferson County.

Cullman County court records show McCown pled guilty Sept. 12 for failing to register his new address. He was a convicted juvenile sex offender. He received a 30-month suspended supervised sentence.

Peggy Chaffin, McCown’s mother, cried as she asked the city council to remove the bunk or install cameras that would provide a wider view of the cell where McCown died.

“My son laid back there for 55 minutes before anyone checked on him,” Chaffin told The Times. “By then it was too late. I don’t want any mother to have to go through the pain that I’ve been through.”

Chaffin said the city is responsible for inmates’ safety in their jail.

“He walks out of picture, is gone for almost an hour and you don’t get up to check on him?” Chaffin said. “You should go see what he’s doing if you don’t see him after 10 or 15 minutes.”

Hanceville Mayor Kenneth Nail said a former jail administrator inspected the city jail Friday and will recommend any changes for him to consider.

Nail said a dispatcher serves as jailer, watches inmates from TV monitors and routinely checks in on them. The city has just ordered four new cameras to install at the jail.

“We just feel like we could step it up and put up cameras in more places to see the inmates better,” Nail said.

Nail said McCown strangled himself out of sight of the jailer by stepping behind a small brick wall where a toilet is located in the cell.

“It’s a tragedy,” Nail said. “We don’t want things like this happening in our jail. This is the first one we’ve had in this jail that I’m aware of.”

Chaffin said the city has turned over DVDs showing McCown from the time he was placed in his cell until he was taken out on a stretcher.

“You can see him take a sheet off another bed, and take it over to his bunk,” Chaffin said. “He goes behind the bunk, and then you don’t see him again.”