Correctional officers at the Carroll County Detention Center found a noose fashioned from a bedsheet in an inmate's cell late Sunday, hours before the prisoner was to be sent to a state Division of Correction facility, authorities said.

Christopher McDermott, 24, was sentenced last week to four years in prison after he was found guilty of violating probation on 1997 charges of reckless endangerment and second-degree assault.

McDermott had been held at the county jail in Westminster since July 28, authorities said.

Pub Date: 1/26/99