Preventing Jail Suicides
By: Nina Reddy
Tags: Suicide Prevention, Prison Reform, Jail Reform, Policy

Suicide is the leading cause of death for people incarcerated in jails across the United States, accounting for more than 30% of deaths in custody. In 2014, the rate of suicide in local jails was the highest observed since 2000, and remains over three times higher than rates of suicide in either prison or the community. Gender and racial disparities exist in suicide rates in jail.Men are 57% more likely to die by suicide than women, while white people are 5.25 times more likely to die by suicide than Black people. (1) There are multiple causes for high rates of suicide in jails. In some cases, individuals who are incarcerated face facility-level risk factors like overcrowding, situational risk factors such as stress and isolation associated with incarceration, and individual risk factors such as mental illness, substance abuse, or a history of trauma or self-harm. Suicide can result from undiagnosed or untreated mental health disorders, and jails are often ill-equipped to meet the underlying needs of individuals with mental illness. Additionally, there are long term impacts associated with jail suicides; not only do they result in loss of life, but also there is heightened vulnerability among individuals who are exposed to suicide or suicide related behavior in jails, contributing to a toxic environment of self-harm. (2)

Addressing high jail suicide rates requires collaboration between different groups of stakeholders, and is contingent upon healthy communciation between a jail’s preferred method of healthcare delivery (generally the jail’s own health and clinical staff) and the corrections staff. For jails that contract healthcare to outside vendors, the jail also have to manage healthy and transparent relationships with these private organizations. (3) Reshaping approaches to training around suicide prevention is critical and should include both corrections and health care staff together to foster collaborative learning between the two groups. The training process should occur regularly and emphasize identifying high-risk offenders along with signs and symptoms of mental illness. Additionally, correctional and healthcare professionals should work together to institute a review process that includes stakeholders from all disciplines, with a focus on disseminating findings and recommendations to both management and line staff.

Other potential solutions include having jails develop suicide prevention plans consistent with the national standards, as well as connecting jails to resources that would provide guidance on conducting robust reviews in the aftermath of a death. (Both the healthcare and criminal justice fields have helpful guidance on implementing an all-stakeholder, non-blaming review process) Additionally, jails can develop mechanisms to consistently review incidents of self-harm, as these are more prevalent compared to instances of suicide, and this could be a missed opportunity to strengthen practices concerning suicide, self-harm, and the relationship between the two. Jails can also develop procedures to systematically screen inmates upon arrival at the facility and throughout their stay to identify high risk inmates, develop mechanisms to maintain communications between staff members regarding high risk inmates, and emphasizing supportive and trusting relationships between incarcerated individuals and staff. (1)(2)(3)