law

Jimetria Grice

Professor Maria Karabehou

Suicide in Prison

Colorado Technical University

Suicide in Prisons

Introduction

The frequency of suicide in jails and prisons in the US has been on the rise and surprisingly nothing much seems to be done about it. In 2012 and 2013 the rate of suicide seems to have stabilized in prisons, however, in 2014, it went up by over 30%. As of the end of 2014, a total of 3,927 inmates had been confirmed to have committed suicide while incarcerated. Out of the 3,927, 3483 suicides were in state prisons and 444 were in federal prisons (Grinberg, 2017). The fact that it is convicted felons and suspected criminals who commit suicide seem not to cause an alarm or raise eyebrows. The fact that suicide accounts for 7% of all deaths in prisons ought to have the department of corrections look into the matter with the intention of reducing the rate at which people take away their lives if not stop it completely.

The prevalence of prison suicide

Earlier this year a financier by the name Jeffrey Epstein was found hanging from his cell. Jeff was on trial for sex trafficking. The suicide of Jeff led to the raising of questions as regards suicides in correctional facilities. Jeff’s suicide case shed light on the dire situation in prisons considering that he was in a federal correctional facility (Kim, 2019). To make matters worse, a month before his successful attempt, Jeff had been put on suicide watch after he was discovered to have marks that resemble an attempted suicide. Despite him being a high profile suspected criminal and despite him attempting to take his life earlier, it seems nothing was done to prevent him from committing suicide.

There are several cases like Jeff’s where people take their lives in prison for many unknown reasons. According to the last research carried out by the correctional department as regards suicide the findings were that jails had the highest number of successful suicides, State prisons came in second and federal prisons came in last. According to the research, suicide in jails was the number one cause of deaths in jail. As of the end of 2014, suicide-related deaths in local jails were 50 for every 100,000 inmates, suicide-related deaths in state prisons were 20 for every 100,000 inmates and suicide-related deaths in federal prisons were 15 for every 100,000 inmates (Fazel, Ramesh & Hawton, 2017).

Factors that contribute to prison suicide

There are several factors that have been identified to contribute to prison suicide however there are two common factors. One of the common factors is mental health. Out of the total number of inmates that committed suicide in 2014, 34% of them were identified to be mentally unstable. The fact that prisons are under a limited budget makes it hard for prisons to offer all required mental health assistance to inmates.

Local jails are run by county budgets and state prisons are run by the state budget. The constraints in budgets for local jails and state prisons in a way explain why there are high rates of suicides in the two types of correctional facilities in relation to federal prisons that are run by the federal government. Local jails and county jails do not have enough funding to have more prison staff on suicide watch as well as enough funding to treat those with mental issues.

The second common factor in prison suicide is the ideation of incarceration. Most of the people who commit suicide in prisons are inmates who have been incarcerated for the first time (Hales et al., 2015). It is very rare for inmates that have been incarcerated severally to commit suicide. The idea that one will be incarcerated for their crimes pushes people more so those awaiting trial regardless of the jails they are in to want to take away their lives. In the case of Jeff, Jeff was looking at a jail term that could go up to 45 years in federal prison if he was found guilty. Majority of people believe that the idea that he would be incarcerated for so long caused him to commit suicide.

The circumstances under which prison suicide is likely to happen

In the case of Jeff, he committed suicide when he was isolated in a prison cell (Schuppe, 2019). Most suicides happen in situations that inmates are isolated from the general population or their cellmates. It is easier for inmates to commit suicide when they do not have another person in the room or cell to talk them out of it or to alert prison guards or staff (Boren et al., 2018). Prisoners as well frequently commit suicide in solitary confinement and in the shower rooms.

Solitary confinement has a way of messing up with the mental state of a prisoner and if the confinement is done in a room that is not suicide proof then it is most likely that a prisoner will consider suicide. Shower rooms, on the other hand, present several ways in which prisoners can commit suicide. Some prisoners commit suicide by hanging themselves on the high shower taps by using shower curtains. Just as in the other places where inmates can commit suicide, the shower rooms are only viable if a prisoner finds out that they are alone in the shower rooms.

Prison officials’ obligation in addressing suicide in prisons

It is the core duty of the department of corrections to protect the lives of those under the department. Correctional facilities are obligated by the law to protect the lives of inmates under their custody. By simply failing to address the issue of suicide in prisons, prison officials indirectly state of their inability to secure the lives of inmates. The primary reason as to why people face jail or prison time is because they have been found guilty of breaking the law be it state or federal laws. It is the duty of prison officials to administer justice through the punishment of incarceration. By allowing suicides in correctional facilities, prison officials indirectly state of the ability to administer justice; prisoners who commit suicide escape justice and punishment for their crimes or offenses (Stoliker, 2018).

A program geared at preventing inmate suicide in my prison

The departments involved

There are two departments that will be involved in preventing suicide in prison. The first department is the line staff. The line staff will have the responsibility of not only watching over prisoners but will look for cues that identify inmates as potentials of committing suicide depending on their reason for imprisonment, medical records, behavior an family history. The line staff will be the most important against the fight of suicide in prison since they are the ones that directly and constantly interact with inmates. They will be expected to interact with prisoners to assess their mental health as well as their view on being incarcerated. Their primary focus will be on inmates who are on their first incarceration. They will also monitor fresh inmates as they are the one identified to highly commit suicide.

Since it has already been established that mental health is one of the primary factors of suicide amongst inmates, the second department will be prison’s health department more so the unit that deals with the mental health of prisoners. The unit will be in charge of carefully scrutinizing all prisoners for mental health complications. Inmates identified to have mental issues will be further monitored for suicide tendencies or ideation.

Training

Training sessions will be carried out for both prison staff and inmates. The training that focuses on the prison staff will equip line staff and the health staff with all needed information to deal with inmates with high potential of committing suicide. There will also be training for inmates. The training will be geared at helping them cope better with prison life. The training will as well equip the prisoners on the tell signs of inmates who consider suicide as an option. The above will help in the whistleblowing on prisoners most likely to commit suicide.

Intervention

Inmates identified not to be mentally stable will be isolated from the general public in order for them to be on suicide watch until the health department clears for them to be returned to the general population. Medical records for inmates suspected of high chances of committing suicide will be carefully stored for constant monitoring. Inmates identified to have suicide ideation will be put on suicide watch to prevent them from committing suicide. While on suicide watch, the inmates will receive counseling geared at doing away with suicide ideation.

Budget considerations

Implementing the program will require a suicide watch center to be set up. It will as well require specialized training for the department involved. It will also require the correctional facility to employ more staff in order to make inmate monitoring possible. In order for the above-mentioned things to happen, the correctional facility’s budget will have to increase. The cost of putting up the suicide watch unit is expected to cost approximately $14,000. The cost of training the line staff and the health staff is expected to cost approximately $10,500. The prison will need to employ an additional 10 prison staff @ $96,000 per year. The prison budget needs to increase by approximately $120,500 within the first year.

References

Boren, E. A., Folk, J. B., Loya, J. M., Tangney, J. P., Barboza, S. E., & Wilson, J. S. (2018). The suicidal inmate: A comparison of inmates who attempt versus complete suicide. Suicide and Life‐Threatening Behavior, 48(5), 570-579.