Mental Disabilities/Suicide Prevention Plan

In the Texas Administrative Code under Title 37, which is Public Safety and Corrections; Part 9, Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS); Chapter 273, Health Services; is Rule §273.5. It is titled Mental Disabilities/Suicide Prevention Plan. The standards under this section of the Texas jail standards are dedicated to procedures for handling inmates with mental disabilities and those who are at risk for suicide. Most custodial suicides are considered preventable deaths. The jail requirements under this section of the Texas code are all designed to ensure that inmates don’t take their own lives.

Looking through the 2020 Jail Inspection Reports prepared by the TCJS, it seems suicide prevention needs to be more of a priority in many Texas jails. There are patterns in the results showing that several jails miss the same steps in the area of mental disabilities and suicide prevention.

Some of the specifics on suicide prevention are listed in another section of the code. In Part 9; Chapter 275 is a section titled Supervision of Inmates. All inmates must be routinely observed in face-to-face checks, according to jail standards. This type of supervision is considered the leading way to prevent custodial deaths in general, though especially custodial suicides. The general population of inmates, however, is supposed to be checked at least every 60 minutes while at-risk inmates are required to be checked no later than every 30 minutes. Unfortunately, these crucial checks do not always happen, as evidenced in Jail Inspection Reports.

See Part 1 and this continuing series to learn about 2020 non-compliance of standards related to at-risk inmates in Texas jails.

The purpose of this and all posts on this website is to provide information. There is no intent for this or any of the posts on this site to suggest misconduct on the part of any person or institution.

–Guest Contributor