Suicides In Jails On The Rise: Report

[news]

[news]

The number of people who died by suicide in local jails ticked up in 2013, even as the overall jail population declined, according to a new report.

Between 2012 and 2013, the number of suicides went from 300 to 327, a 9 percent increase, according to a report from the Justice Department released this month. That jump comes even as the overall jail population declined by 4 percent, the report said.

Total deaths were also up slightly between 2012 and 2013, from 958 to 967. Suicide, the report noted, has been the leading cause of death in jails every year since 2000. In 2013, 34 percent of inmates' deaths were by their own hands.

That's in stark contrast to the cause of death in state prisons, where, between 2000 and 2013, nine in ten deaths were the result of illnesses like heart disease and cancer.


 The report offers no possible explanation for the increases or for why more people commit suicide in jails compared to prisons. But the Marshall Project, a criminal justice news site, suggested it's partially due to "shock of confinement."

One reason why jails have a higher suicide rate (46 per 100,000 in 2013) than prisons (15 PER 100,0001) is that people who enter a jail often face a first-time “shock of confinement”; they are stripped of their job, housing, and basic sense of normalcy.

 

Another reason is because jail staffers don't have as clear an idea of who they're dealing with, Michele Deitch, a professor at the University of Texas' LBJ School of Public Affairs, told the Marshall Project. By the time people enter prison after they're convicted, mental health issues and suicidal tendencies are usually evident, Deitch said.

"Prisons know who they’re getting," she said.

The report comes in the wake of the high-profile death of Sandra Bland. The Texas woman was pulled over for failing to signal when changing lanes on July 10. She was then accused of assaulting an officer and arrested.

Bland was found dead in her cell on July 13. Authorities say she killed herself, but Bland's family is skeptical of that conclusion.

Her family announced a federal lawsuit this week.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.












More...