The Hutchinson County Sheriff’s Department filed a custodial death report (CDR) on 35-year-old Miranda Louise Grayson on May 25, 2022. Ms. Grayson committed suicide in Hutchinson County Jail and died on May 24, 2022. The address of the facility where Ms. Grayson hung herself is 500 Main, Stinnett, TX 79083.

The Most Critical Suicide Prevention Procedures

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) includes suicide prevention in the minimum jail standards county and municipal jails must conform to in their operational procedures. Preventing suicide is an especially weighty issue because most custodial deaths in local jails are the result of suicide. A tremendous amount of research is ongoing about custodial suicide prevention, and the following information is from one of the recent studies.

Each jail needs to have, as part of suicide intervention and prevention, the following:

• Medication administration
• Involuntary medication administration
• Delivery of mental health services; and
• Treatment of the inmates who are seriously mentally ill

Based on research and statistics, the following are the most critical procedures that county and city jails should include in suicide prevention:

• Screening of each incoming inmate
• A suicide risk assessment of at-risk inmates
• Suicide watch and monitoring
• Classification and housing of inmates
• Suicide risk assessment
• Psychiatric and therapeutic encounters
• Management of inmates in special housing and administrative segregation

Learn more in Part 1 and this ongoing series.

This website seeks to provide helpful resources of assistance to county and city jail inmates in Texas, whether now or formerly detained. There is never an intention of implicating persons or organizations in acts of wrongdoing.

–Guest Contributor