The following are more recommendations made to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards to enhance efforts to prevent custodial suicides as well as related insights on the standards that existed at that time:

Avoid Isolating Suicidal Inmates

Jail procedures should include measures to avoid isolating suicidal patients because isolation has proven to worsen the potential for suicide.  

• Most of the custodial suicides that occur in US jails happen in special housing units in which inmates are detained in a cell alone. Few suicides occur in the presence of others, on the other hand. Only 8% of all inmate suicides occur while an inmate is under direct suicide watch. The placement of inmates, therefore, is a critical aspect of sound suicide prevention policies.

The suicide risk of an inmate should be the determining factor for housing placement and the level of observation of that inmate through a classification approach similar to the following:  

• Low-risk inmates should be housed in high-traffic areas or cells with multiple occupancy under normal observation. For low-risk inmates, an implicit mechanism for suicide prevention is the presence of other people.
• At-risk inmates should be housed in suicide-resistant cells. Observation by jail staff should be staggered at intervals that do not exceed 15 minutes and should include meaningful interaction, not simply observation of staff at the jail. The interaction for inmates at this suicide risk stage is crucial.
• Actively suicidal inmates should be under continuous watch in suicide-resistant housing. Clothing should be substituted with paper gowns. Sheets and blankets must be removed, and a mental health professional should visit the inmate multiple times each day.

See Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of this ongoing series to learn more.

The posts on this site purpose to help prisoners in city and county jails in Texas, whether current or former inmates, and their families. There is at no time any intention to infer that individuals or institutions have engaged in wrongs of any kind.

–Guest Contributor