Friday, June 01, 2007

CA DOC reduces number of prisoner suicides

Prison Legal News


In California prisons, reducing inmate suicides a rare success

By DON THOMPSON Associated Press Writer

News Fuze

Article Launched:05/27/2007 12:38:22 PM PDT

FOLSOM, Calif.- Every 30 minutes, day and night, guards walk the tiers of the isolation unit at California State Prison, Sacramento, checking inmates to make sure they don't kill themselves.

The guards have been doing so since October, when the prison system instituted a series of reforms to cut the high rate of inmate suicides. The steps were prompted by a federal judge's finding that a disproportionate number of suicides occurred in the isolation cells used to segregate inmates for disciplinary or other reasons.

The measures, which include screening inmates for potential suicidal tendencies and training guards how to intervene, appear to be making a difference.

Last year, a record 43 inmates killed themselves in California prisons. California's rate of 25.5 deaths per 100,000 inmates is nearly double the nationwide prison suicide rate of 14 per 100,000, according to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics. Nearly half those deaths were in California's isolation units.

Through Friday, 13 inmates had committed suicide, compared with 19 during the same period a year ago. Three were in the segregation units, down from seven in those cells at the same time last year. ...


www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_6002295?nclick_check=1

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