Suicides in Local Jails

The total number of suicides in county and municipal jails that occurred in the U.S. was 6,217. The percentages below show the average number of inmates who died in the different age groups:

• 24 or younger – 17.1%
• 25-34 – 31.5%
• 35-44 – 28.6%
• 45-54 – 16.3%
• 55 or older – 6.3%

The amount of time spent in the jail before an inmate commits suicide can reveal a pattern and help establish suicide prevention practices. The following is the average number of days inmates spent in local jails before committing suicide from 2000-2019:

• 8.4% ~ Less than 24 hours
• 8.9% ~ 1 day
• 29.2% ~ 2–7 days
• 18.7% ~ 8 – 30 days
• 9.5% ~ 31 – 60 days
• 10.2% ~ 61 –120 days
• 4.6% ~ 121 – 180 days
• 10.0% ~ More than 6 months

Scrutinizing One Custodial Suicide at a Time

In a state other than Texas, recently conducted thorough investigations of 90 suicides that had occurred in their local jails and state facilities. They discovered specific actions that were taken, such as missteps in jail processing, that contributed to the deaths. Learn more in the next installment of this series.

Learn more in Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, and Part 11 of this continuing series.

Helping Texas jail detainees and their families with resources is one of the purposes of this website. There is no intention of suggesting that people or organizations have been involved in misdeeds.

–Guest Contributor