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Jails strive to save inmates from themselves
By Jen Scherer
Daily News staff writer
In an environment where people can become suddenly depressed without warning, jails have to invest a lot of time into suicide prevention.
And despite their best efforts, of the hundreds of people annually who make suicidal statements, several will attempt to kill themselves.
The first line of defense for any facility is to detect suicidal people at the time of booking. In Rock County, a three step process is used; three different officers will ask each person if they have thoughts of harming themselves or have ever been suicidal, said Sheriff's Department Lt. Troy Knudson, who is in charge of jail operations.
"With three different (people) coming at them three different times we feel fairly hopeful that we'll catch them on the way through," Knudson said.
If the person answers in the affirmative, they'll be flagged as a potential risk. If they currently feel suicidal, they'll be placed in an observation cell right off the booking area, where anything that can be used as a weapon is removed, and will be monitored every 15 minutes while Crisis Intervention is called, Deputy Chief Robert Spoden said.
"They bring a crisis worker who will do an interview to determine the seriousness of that statement," Spoden said, acknowledging, "some will do it for attention."
If the statement is determined to be serious, the person will be transferred to a mental health facility and/or be put on suicide watch.
Officers receive extensive training to observe suicidal behaviors and take action when inmates say someone isn't acting normally. In those cases, the person is quickly evaluated and may be removed to an observation cell and crisis intervention may be called.
Knudson said there were 158 inmates classified as suicidal last year, seven of whom made attempts at suicide with five being transported to a mental health facility. Of those, about half said they were feeling suicidal at the time of booking and the others were caught later by either inmates or guards.
Earlier this month an intoxicated man attempted to hang himself in the booking area, but the quick action of jail staff stopped him. The last time a person actually died from suicide at the Rock County Jail was in 1998, Knudson said.
In Rock County, the most common suicide attempt method is hanging, though some try to slit their wrists with a pencil or other sharp object and others try to jump off the second tier balcony, Spoden said, acknowledging that it's an ongoing problem that wasn't helped by the reduction in health care services.
"There's a direct correlation between the increase in special needs inmates and the reduction in services at the health care center," Spoden said. "We are seeing an increased amount of inmates that are suicidal, that are self mutilators, that are coming down from a heroin addiction or whatever."
The services may be gone, but the people who need them are still around and many, without treatment, seem to end up in jail, he said.
Knudson said the staff logs each time they check on a potentially suicidal inmate. Last year, they logged over 12,000 checks. He attributes the lack of deaths to the staff's "watchfulness and efficient intervention."
Rock County doesn't have a mental health worker on staff, though Crisis Intervention is available 24 hours a day as is a nursing staff.
By contrast, in both Winnebago and Walworth counties, a mental health worker is on staff for 30 or 40 hours per week. As in Rock County, inmates in both jails are evaluated as they're booked for suicidal tendencies and those who express them, or are perceived to have them, are put into segregation with special clothing that can't be used to harm themselves.
In the Winnebago County Jail, where capacity is supposed to be 394 though inmate population is at 450, even people who refuse to answer whether they've felt suicidal are put in segregation as a precaution and are monitored via camera.
In Winnebago County, where both corrections and patrol officers have long been trained to recognize the mentally ill, officers are formally being trained in Crisis Intervention Training in groups, Sheriff Richard Meyers said. At the same time, there are people in the jail every day from mental health court assessing people for mental illness so they can be referred to that court.
It's rare that a person is able to actually kill themselves in the Winnebago County Jail. Meyers said a recent figure shows the jail had 97 attempts before a death. The most recent suicide was a year ago, and occurred in a tier with a lot of inmates during a time they were not locked down.
"Threats of suicides from inmates is a daily occurrence," Meyers said. "We get three to four per day minimum."
In Winnebago County, there are a couple attempts per month, including people who were caught preparing to make an attempt, such as a person fashioning a rope.
"It's not unusual to see someone on camera trying to tie a blanket around a bar or something," Meyers said. "Most of those attempts are caught very early on."
In all facilities, the officials agreed that depression can hit an inmate in an instant, whether it be a bad day in court or bad news from home.
"Those that have mental illnesses may not be suicidal today but it doesn't take much to do that," Meyers said. "You have to be in a constant vigil for suicide issues inside a corrections facility."
Meyers pointed out there is no one solution.
"We can only do our best to identify those people at risk and do our best to protect them," Meyers said "There is always that threat and unfortunately there's no doubt there'll be others we just hope it continues like it has been --few and far between."
Walworth County Jail administrator Mike Schmitz estimated perhaps two people per month are put into segregation for suicide precautions. He believes in the last year there were three actual attempts.
There have been no successful suicides in Walworth County since the early 1990s, Schmitz said.
Besides the training that the staff receives on suicide prevention, Schmitz credits the low numbers to the way the jail is arranged; in most areas there are no barriers between the officers and inmates.
"We run a direct supervision facility so the officers are always in contact with the inmates most the time," Schmitz said. "They work directly with them, and (there are) no bars in between."
The jail has a total capacity of 512. Right now, there are about 340 inmates in jail and work release.
And despite their best efforts, of the hundreds of people annually who make suicidal statements, several will attempt to kill themselves.
The first line of defense for any facility is to detect suicidal people at the time of booking. In Rock County, a three step process is used; three different officers will ask each person if they have thoughts of harming themselves or have ever been suicidal, said Sheriff's Department Lt. Troy Knudson, who is in charge of jail operations.
"With three different (people) coming at them three different times we feel fairly hopeful that we'll catch them on the way through," Knudson said.
If the person answers in the affirmative, they'll be flagged as a potential risk. If they currently feel suicidal, they'll be placed in an observation cell right off the booking area, where anything that can be used as a weapon is removed, and will be monitored every 15 minutes while Crisis Intervention is called, Deputy Chief Robert Spoden said.
"They bring a crisis worker who will do an interview to determine the seriousness of that statement," Spoden said, acknowledging, "some will do it for attention."
If the statement is determined to be serious, the person will be transferred to a mental health facility and/or be put on suicide watch.
Officers receive extensive training to observe suicidal behaviors and take action when inmates say someone isn't acting normally. In those cases, the person is quickly evaluated and may be removed to an observation cell and crisis intervention may be called.
Knudson said there were 158 inmates classified as suicidal last year, seven of whom made attempts at suicide with five being transported to a mental health facility. Of those, about half said they were feeling suicidal at the time of booking and the others were caught later by either inmates or guards.
Earlier this month an intoxicated man attempted to hang himself in the booking area, but the quick action of jail staff stopped him. The last time a person actually died from suicide at the Rock County Jail was in 1998, Knudson said.
In Rock County, the most common suicide attempt method is hanging, though some try to slit their wrists with a pencil or other sharp object and others try to jump off the second tier balcony, Spoden said, acknowledging that it's an ongoing problem that wasn't helped by the reduction in health care services.
"There's a direct correlation between the increase in special needs inmates and the reduction in services at the health care center," Spoden said. "We are seeing an increased amount of inmates that are suicidal, that are self mutilators, that are coming down from a heroin addiction or whatever."
The services may be gone, but the people who need them are still around and many, without treatment, seem to end up in jail, he said.
Knudson said the staff logs each time they check on a potentially suicidal inmate. Last year, they logged over 12,000 checks. He attributes the lack of deaths to the staff's "watchfulness and efficient intervention."
Rock County doesn't have a mental health worker on staff, though Crisis Intervention is available 24 hours a day as is a nursing staff.
By contrast, in both Winnebago and Walworth counties, a mental health worker is on staff for 30 or 40 hours per week. As in Rock County, inmates in both jails are evaluated as they're booked for suicidal tendencies and those who express them, or are perceived to have them, are put into segregation with special clothing that can't be used to harm themselves.
In the Winnebago County Jail, where capacity is supposed to be 394 though inmate population is at 450, even people who refuse to answer whether they've felt suicidal are put in segregation as a precaution and are monitored via camera.
In Winnebago County, where both corrections and patrol officers have long been trained to recognize the mentally ill, officers are formally being trained in Crisis Intervention Training in groups, Sheriff Richard Meyers said. At the same time, there are people in the jail every day from mental health court assessing people for mental illness so they can be referred to that court.
It's rare that a person is able to actually kill themselves in the Winnebago County Jail. Meyers said a recent figure shows the jail had 97 attempts before a death. The most recent suicide was a year ago, and occurred in a tier with a lot of inmates during a time they were not locked down.
"Threats of suicides from inmates is a daily occurrence," Meyers said. "We get three to four per day minimum."
In Winnebago County, there are a couple attempts per month, including people who were caught preparing to make an attempt, such as a person fashioning a rope.
"It's not unusual to see someone on camera trying to tie a blanket around a bar or something," Meyers said. "Most of those attempts are caught very early on."
In all facilities, the officials agreed that depression can hit an inmate in an instant, whether it be a bad day in court or bad news from home.
"Those that have mental illnesses may not be suicidal today but it doesn't take much to do that," Meyers said. "You have to be in a constant vigil for suicide issues inside a corrections facility."
Meyers pointed out there is no one solution.
"We can only do our best to identify those people at risk and do our best to protect them," Meyers said "There is always that threat and unfortunately there's no doubt there'll be others we just hope it continues like it has been --few and far between."
Walworth County Jail administrator Mike Schmitz estimated perhaps two people per month are put into segregation for suicide precautions. He believes in the last year there were three actual attempts.
There have been no successful suicides in Walworth County since the early 1990s, Schmitz said.
Besides the training that the staff receives on suicide prevention, Schmitz credits the low numbers to the way the jail is arranged; in most areas there are no barriers between the officers and inmates.
"We run a direct supervision facility so the officers are always in contact with the inmates most the time," Schmitz said. "They work directly with them, and (there are) no bars in between."
The jail has a total capacity of 512. Right now, there are about 340 inmates in jail and work release.
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One jail striving for energy efficiency is the $12.75 million Steele County Detention Center, the first jail in Minnesota to incorporate extensive daylighting. Steele County's jail is also among a growing number of rural lockups turning to geothermal energy as a source for heating and cooling.
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vicky
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Drug Intervention New MexicoDrug Intervention New Mexico "
One jail striving for energy efficiency is the $12.75 million Steele County Detention Center, the first jail in Minnesota to incorporate extensive daylighting. Steele County's jail is also among a growing number of rural lockups turning to geothermal energy as a source for heating and cooling.
--------------------------
vicky
----------------------------------------
Drug Intervention New MexicoDrug Intervention New Mexico "
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