A former librarian sentenced to death for fatally beating his girlfriend with a hammer has been found dead in his cell on Florida’s death row.

An attorney for William Coday, 51, says the inmate bled to death from self-inflicted wounds early Monday in his cell at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford. Coday had a history of suicidal behavior, attorney George Reres said.

A spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections says she cannot disclose how Coday died.

Coday confessed to fatally beating and stabbing girlfriend Gloria Gomez, 30, in 1997. At the time, Coday was a supervisor at the Fort Lauderdale library.

In 1978, Coday was convicted in Germany of beating Lisa Hullinger, a former girlfriend, to death with a hammer. He served 15 months and was sent back to the U.S. to get psychiatric help.