Prisoner suicide

For correctional facilities given custodial responsibility for incarcerating either convicts or those awaiting judicial processing, few problems are more pressing than the reality of prisoner suicide. Suicide is the leading cause of death in American prisons, according to the Department of Justice in 2021. Although data is not entirely reliable, as prison systems often resist full public disclosure of detainee self-harm because of potential legal liabilities, the US Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) reported in 2021 that in American prisons, about 340 state and federal prisoners died by suicide in 2019 while 355 prisoners committed suicide in local jails. This was roughly 20 inmates per 100,000 inmates in federal prisons, 28 inmates per 100,000 in state prisons, and 50 inmates per 100,000 in local jails.

Despite numbers dropping since the 1970s due to improved psychiatric care in prison facilities and more careful attention paid to the responsibilities of suicide watch (the round-the-clock protective care of inmates who enter the system diagnosed as potentially suicidal), the threat represents a significant challenge for correctional officers. After all, it is the harrowing sociocultural environment of incarceration itself—the isolation, the boredom, the near constant threat of violence from other inmates, the harsh system of imposed discipline, the lack of sanitation, the stress of losing friends and family, the sense of hopelessness—that makes suicide itself a logical alternative. The challenge, then, is how to keep inmates alive when being an inmate is what makes them not want to live any longer.

Overview

Prisoner suicide most often affects one of two broad classifications of inmates: those initially being processed after arrest in local jails—that is, those first coming to terms with the reality of their arrest and its short- and long-term impact on their lives—and those already adjudicated (such as Ariel Castro, the Cleveland man sentenced to more than one thousand years for kidnapping and sexually abusing three young women for more than ten years, who hanged himself just a month after being sentenced). Some prisoners enduring long-term sentences in state or federal prisons with little hope of parole find sustaining a reason to live increasingly difficult.

Although inmates have limited access to mental health services, reducing prisoner suicide begins by identifying those most vulnerable to suicidal ideations: new arrivals, older inmates with increasing health problems, persons addicted to drugs or alcohol, those inmates with a history of self-destructive impulses. Inmates so designated can be placed on suicide watch, a strict process of oversight in which the inmate is checked every fifteen minutes while being kept in isolation, permitted only a minimum of clothing and allowed only finger foods, and often restrained to a chair or on a bed—a process that can actually increase despondency. Prison systems have become more aware of the need for communication between prisoners and staff to identify potential inmate risks in the general population.

Committing suicide in prison is not easy, and prisoners often suffer greatly from crude methods. The most common method is strangulation by hanging, using bedding, a belt, or any kind of heavy string attached to either an overhanging pipe or bed frame. Despite prisons upgrading their mental health awareness programs, significant help can only come from increased public monies—that is, the financial support of taxpayers, who often cannot see the benefits of diligent work to keep these prisoners alive.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2021, from 2001 to 2019, the number of inmate suicides increased 85 percent in state prisons, 61 percent in federal prisons, and 13 percent in local jails. The average suicide rate for White inmates from 2000 to 2019 was 86 per 100,000, more than 5 times the rate for Black inmates (16 per 100,000), and 3.5 times the rate for Hispanic inmates (25 per 100,000). Male inmates committed suicide much more often than female inmates. From 2000 to 2019, males committed 90 percent of the suicides in local jails, 95 percent of the suicides in state prisons, and 98 percent of the suicides in federal prisons.

In the United States, new attention was brought to the issue of prisoner suicide after former National Football League (NFL) star Aaron Hernandez reportedly hanged himself in prison on April 19, 2017. Hernandez was two years into a life sentence for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd, for which he was convicted in 2015. His suicide brought to light the mental health challenges that are common but often underreported in the correctional system.

Bibliography

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