In March, he jumped from a fence in the prison's yard with a sheet tied around his neck, but a guard caught him. The warden said Pharms came close to dying that time. Guards, he said, are keeping a close eye on him. When guards find suicidal inmates, they take them to suicide-watch cells in the medical unit. In some cases, they strip them, handcuff them and shackle their ankles, sometimes for hours, allowing them to get up every two hours to drink water and use the bathroom.
Suicidal inmates meet with a psychologist on call from local mental health services.
The warden said at least three suicidal teens have been sent to other prisons for evaluation. During the two-week period that saw eight attempts, Dec. 17 was an especially bad day. He had tied one end of a sheet around his neck and the other end around the foot railing of his bed. Guards freed him and found he had a pulse. Two hours later, the neighboring cellmate who had alerted guards was found in his segregation cell, a plastic bag over his head and his hands bound with shoelaces behind his back.