Do the Mentally Ill in Texas Jails Get Proper Care?-4
Mentally Ill Inmates are at a Greater Risk for Suicide Continued
The study refers to an article stating that jail suicide rates in California increased at an alarming rate between 2000 and 2001, when annual suicide deaths in the state’s jails totaled 23 and 38, respectively. Most suicides were committed by strangulation. Ligatures were mostly made with jail bedding, but socks, shoelaces, and a plastic bag were also used.
The 38 deaths surpassed the previous high of 37, a total reported almost 20 years before. Sweeping reforms were then adopted to identify suicidal detainees and keep them under close supervision.
A number of the recent suicides were detainees who suffered from mental disabilities. It should always be a red flag for jailers when a detainee has a mental illness.
- One detainee who committed suicide was a construction worker with a drinking problem. The 33-year-old had been arrested and placed in a local jail on a charge of petty theft. Tragically, he hanged himself.
- A high-profile detainee had been accused of multiple murders, and he was watched continuously on a surveillance camera. Despite being on camera 24/7, he killed himself in his cell.
- Several detainees had been held in special suicide watch cells in jail but were later moved to housing among the general population of the jail, where they died by suicide.
It was noted that the number of mentally ill detainees in county jails receiving mental health treatment had more than doubled in five years.
See Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and this continuing series.
Helping detainees in Texas jails is one of this website’s purposes. There is no intention of insinuating that any person or entity has been involved in unlawful activity.
–Guest Contributor
smchugh
smchugh