Christy Michelle Slayton had been an inmate at Kaufman County Jail in Kaufman, Texas, for a matter of hours when she was found nonresponsive in her cell. On September 14, 2019, a total of four days after being jailed, she died.

The following continues with suicide prevention information from the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC). Suicide is a crucial issue because it is a leading cause of custodial deaths.

Suicide Prevention Training Content

The learning objectives below are among those meant to serve as guidelines for establishing suicide prevention training content. Jail staff should know the following after completing suicide prevention training:

• Common warning signs of non-suicidal and suicidal self-injury.
• Common signs and symptoms of mental health conditions.
• Behavioral signs of medical conditions requiring immediate medical care.
• What items should be cleared from housing for inmates on suicide watch.
• Isolation undermines efforts to prevent inmate suicide.
• Avoid placing persons in restrictive housing if they are recognized as being at an elevated risk for suicide.
• Procedures and circumstances for providing continuous observation of persons identified as acutely suicidal.
• Procedures and circumstances for providing intermittent/staggered face-to-face observations of persons identified as acutely suicidal.
• Interpersonal skills to demonstrate for the purpose of de-escalating crises and lowering barriers to mental health care for inmates.
• Documentation and communication procedures at shift changes.
• How to obtain emergency clinical services for inmates.
• Where to locate and how to use safety equipment such as a cut-down tool.

Learn more in Part 1 and this continuing series.

Seeking to assist Texas county jail inmates, posts are provided on this website. There is never an intention on this site to suggest that people or institutions have participated in wrongs.

–Guest Contributor