Suicide prevention is a critical issue in jails around the nation. In the state this series is about, another county jail not previously alluded to, 14 suicides occurred in a recent decade, which was a high number, statistically.

Training Can Help Prevent Custodial Suicides

Various studies have found that training of jailers is an essential component of appropriate suicide prevention measures in county jails. If jailers are unaware of the prevalence of suicide among the general jail population, clear warning signs can be missed. Approximately half of all inmates who commit suicide in jail are not in the suicide watch portion of the facility. The following is an example of a custodial suicide in 2019 in which possible lack of training was potentially a contributing factor to an inmate’s death.

A man who committed suicide in this county jail outside of Texas had been incarcerated for two months when he took his own life. Records show that the deputy on duty conducting observation checks of prisoners saw the inmate in places and positions in the cell that would likely raise alarms for a better-trained jailer.

• In one observation of the inmate, the deputy said that the man appeared to be asleep with his head toward the wall in the bottom bunk. Just after that, he switched with another jailer who took that ward.
• Within 10 minutes, the jailer had difficulty finding the inmate when he looked through the window of the cell. Finally, he saw that the inmate’s back was against the wall. He was between the toilet and his bunk. The jailer started to walk away but then realized something didn’t look right. After looking more closely, it appeared that a sheet was tied around the inmate’s neck and a corner of the bunk bed. The inmate was cold to the touch and was never revived, in spite of a rapid response.

See Part 1 and Part 2 of this ongoing series.

Posts on this site are intended as resources that may be of assistance to inmates incarcerated in Texas jails. It is never intended to infer misdeeds on the part of persons or institutions.

–Guest Contributor