Factors and Prevention of Suicide in Large West Coast Jails

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Factors and Prevention of Suicide in Large West Coast Jails

Jarolyn Fernandez
The University of Rhode Island

Factors and Prevention of Suicide in Large West Coast Jails

Abstract

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Suicide is the second leading cause to deaths in jails. As a health care administrator assigned to a
large upscale jail in the West Coast , I must come up with factors and ways to prevent suicide in
these jails. We must upstream and search for the real reason why they are occurring and how can
we help the inmates coop with their feelings and get the appropriate help they need. In this
paper , we will explore different mediums and approaches to prevent suicide . We must learn the
importance of what it actually means to help an inmate that is in need of help. We will analyze
environmental , mental and social causes of why suicides occur. The paper will explores Ted
Talks, statistics and different approaches of ways to better correction facilities and prevent
suicides. Here I will present a suicide prevention plan and ways of bettering inmates lives and
decreasing suicide . Hopefully with additional recreational activities, volunteerism , community
activism and with medical help , we will be able to help inmates coop with their feelings and to
truly obtain meaning and sense to their lives.

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Factors and Prevention of Suicide in Large West Coast Jails

What does it mean to be in a large jail ? As the new recently-hired health administrator in
a large Urban jail in the West Coast ? What does it mean when they tell you an inmate has
committed a suicide ? Why is this a huge problem in my new institution ? How can I collaborate
with counseling and guard representatives to prevent suicides. What will be my plan ? How can I
make this plan effecting by also staying limited to my resources and reducing the cost associated
with suicide watches? These would be questions that I would ask myself and my team of
counselors and guard representatives before anything. Other questions would be why is suicide
the most leading causes in jails ? All these questions have answers to them. Health is more than
just feeling okay it involves psychological , environmental and physical needs. To improve large
jail suicide you must improve all these needs to help inmates and jail staff better the system and
lower suicide rates.

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What is a jail ? According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics jails are locally operated ,
short term facilities that hold inmates awaiting trials , sentencing or maybe even both. Usually it
describes that these terms are less than a year. When you think of a large jail in the West Coast
in a Urban community you must think of reasons why they are the inmates in there in the first
place. One of the few reasons is poverty. According to the Public Policy Institute of California ,
Californias has typically the highest rate of poverty than the rest of the nation. The Great
Recession in 2006 caused rates of poverty to go from the 12 % to 2011s 16.9%. The nations
rate of population poverty is about 12 % as of 2011, this information was founded by the current
population survey in 2013. This shows that 6 million Californians are living in households with
low incomes in a place of such high cost living. Of course with economic problems also come

Factors and Prevention of Suicide in Large West Coast Jails

some other problems in the communities too. Things such as low education , gang violence being
promoted in urban neighborhoods, the stress of instability of thinking how you are going to get
your next meal on the table is a huge concern in urban communities. When you look at highest
groups in the poverty line , latinos are 23.6% , African Americans are 24.2 % , Asians are 12.6 %
compared to whites who are 9.8 %. Poverty just keeps increasing in racial and ethics groups in
California from 2010-2011. Then I kept analyzing the facts such as poverty was a huge problem,
so was education. After the great recession , you can see that 36.7 % of adults were lacking a
high school diploma and only 5.4 % of the poverty rate held a college degree. You can see that in
all the counties poverty has a huge impact ( PPIC). I feel like this might be one of the biggest
issues when it comes to inmates in urban jails , they have no motivation , no hope , they have a
sense that life outside the jails wall is not worth it and thats when I come in. As the new recently
hired health administrator , I must help them get this new mind set so that they too can have a
second change.
One of my really good friends , is actually in jail right know. He is housed in a Rhode
Island Jail Intake Center and I asked him as a inmate has he heard of people committing suicide.
He answered, Yes, just alone in the four months that he has been house in this jail he has heard
of 2 to 3 suicides in the last month or two. I ask him why ? Why do you think they are
committing suicide ? He said because , They (Prison Guards) treat us like shit. He said , I just
wish they wouldn't treat us as a number than rather as a human being. Dan Slepian an 18 year
veteran award winning TV producer for NBC who is known for his work in Dateline remarkably
mentioned the same statement. In Mr. Slepians Teds Talk talk he mentioned that we must stop
thinking of inmates as numbers but rather as human beings. This stood out to me automatically

Factors and Prevention of Suicide in Large West Coast Jails

when he said it because when you look at the jail system , we understand everything must be in
control but there must also be ways of making inmates feel coop with their mistakes and still
remain productive throughout their term. I received the same response when it came from both
someone who has spend an entire 30 year career in Corrections from an inmate, who has just
been there for four months. So when Mr. Slepian was asked to volunteer and team up with a
group of inmates that wanted to start a group to help their own communities and spread the word
to youth he was all for it. The group called themselves named Forgotten Voices and these
inmates wanted to deliver a message to the youth about gun violence & the consequences of their
choices. A lot of work took place from the dozen group of inmates . First they talked and worked
hard on strategizing a way to best convey their message to the youth , second they really wanted
it to be effective.Third which is probably the most therapeutic to them was that they had to
embrace their fear , embrace their shame and actual confront what they have done and describe
the deadly choice of there consequences. The final project was a 6 minute video that is powerful
and can actually make a change to their communities. This 6 minute video explores topics such
as are they worthy to even talk to anyone ? How they copped with their consequences and how
they mentioned that they cant make it right. I feel that volunteers such as Dan are perfect ways
to help inmates be a positive role to their communities . Not only is Dan giving these inmates a
sense a purpose but he is also awakening meaning into their life , a sense of way to redeem
themselves and help out the communities so that seventeen year olds such as Tyrone can get
educated on gun violence and gun control. Mr. Slepian describe how in this New York State
Facility , inmates are inspired to be the change , they are making music groups and songs for the
next educational video. They are designing new things and new topics to present on upcoming

Factors and Prevention of Suicide in Large West Coast Jails

video, giving inmate purpose and hope is probably one of the most essential way of lowering
suicide rates.
In another Ted Talk that kept exploring the ideas of giving inmates a meaning life was
Dan Pacholke a prison administrator and reformer talk. This ted talk aired in March 2014 and
explained some of his concerns and future plans for the corrections system. Pacholke mentioned
that Isolation isn't good for them. Going back to the phone interview that I had with my friend
he described that Isolation is a true issue when it comes to jail. He mentioned we spend
approximately 20 hours in our cells and four hours of recreation and at times we might not even
get to leave our cells. He said isolation is probably one of the most huge contributors to suicide
because some people just cant handle being in a cell all day. He also went back and mentioned
something that has to do with poverty, he said that the most saddest part is that some people cant
afford some of the luxuries such as giving a call to their loved ones , a television , radios , or
books. So just being isolated for 20 hours with nothing to do can be very bad for you. When
Pacholke became superintendent of a small state prison , he now interacted with different ideas
and backgrounds . Going back to the ideals of treating humans as human beings can be very
beneficial to lower suicide rates. For example in this prison inmates are making advances in
science. They are helping ecologists and scientists complete their projects like for example
repopulating endangered species , frogs , butterflies and doing things such as working with solar
power , organic gardening , and recycling. These little small experiments and projects are
making a huge difference on imputes , its inspiring them , its tending to there very adaptive
nature , its giving them meaning and helping them be decent and actually have a purpose. These
intensive programs are working , its making prisons safer , its making prison more innovating

Factors and Prevention of Suicide in Large West Coast Jails

and is also causing control and containing. Programs like these need to be implemented in days
and months and can make huge change. If there was to implement more extensive programs like
these in jails , it can be more theraupitic , it can be a sense of relieve , a way to coop and educate
them to be more productive and still feel like they are human.
Other things that the correction facility in this West Coast has to look upon is training .
Dan Pacholke mentioned in his Ted talk that usually officers would only need four weeks of
training. I feel like this is not enough! If they are going to be working with inmates and people
who need help we need to properly train our officers and guard representatives to treat the
inmates with respect. Pacholke mentioned that they extended the trainings into 10 weeks
programs and instead of having the officers train alone , they trained them in groups. After that
main training they would go into apprenticeships where the new staff would be trained with an
veteran staff and they both got better at their work. He also mentioned training guards and
inmates on verbal communication. I feel like training should be more strictly involved when it
comes to guards and inmates. In sociology class my freshmen year they showed this film called
the The Stanford Prison Experiment. In this experiment psychologist had volunteers come in and
they assigned them roles such as being a guard or a prisoners. In this experiment , as the days
went by they showed how in just six days the guards became sadistics and prisoners became
depressed and showed signed of extreme stress. In this simulated prison it shows the effects of
the institutions to those behind walls. At the beginning of this experiment there was no difference
between the boys , they were all healthy , intelligent , middle class males. Some were randomly
assigned guards and others prisoners. To stimulate prison environment they called upon services
of experienced consultants which were prisoners that had 17 years behind prison walls. They

Factors and Prevention of Suicide in Large West Coast Jails

made a prison in the basement of their facility and just changed the doors with bars , also made
the hole dark and confined and that is where the bad prisoner would stand. There was no
windows no clocks , nothing time distorted. They went through the steps of stripping them naked
and cleaning them. This degrading procedure is designed to humiliate them from there they were
given a uniform and prison ID number. They chained their right ankle and had them wear shoes
at all times. As soon as they were put into these ridiculous uniforms inmates stared to walk and
sit differently. The chain is uncommon in prison but for the experiment purpose it was suppose to
make them feel oppressed to the environment. The use of the ID numbers was to make them feel
anonymous and to remind them that they are a prisoner. They also shaved them which drastically
changed their appearance. To enforce the law , the guards were given no training just to do what
was necessary to maintain the law and command respect from prisoners. All guards dressed
identical with classes , khakis , had a whistle. Cells were small and only 3 prisoners can sleep in
them with little to no room. At 2:30 am inmates were rudely awakened for counts , guards
pushed them by telling them to do pushups. The second day , the prisoners rebelled , they
barricaded themselves in there prison beds , they ripped off uniform & numbers and wouldn't
listen to the guards. The guards got frustrated and angry about what the prisoners did and they
taunt & cursed at them. They were mad at the other guards for being too linnet and they called
for reinforcement and decided to tray them by force. They used fire extinguishers and shot
chilling carbon dioxide to the prisoners , broke into the cell and stripped then naked , took their
bed out and began to harass them. They then crushed rebellion by having a privilege cells were
they got better treatment , the not so privilege lost the privilege to eat. Ultimately the guards
responded to threats by stepping up their control, surveillance, and aggression. The guards

Factors and Prevention of Suicide in Large West Coast Jails

kept taking away rights such as going to the bathroom , they were made to urinate on themselves
and there environment. One of the inmates was released because he felt crazy and couldn't stand
the guard harassment , he felt absolutely hopeless. At the end of the experiment another prison
felt like he was just a number , he actually started to believe that he was bad , that he was the
number #819. He had to get psychological help this is important to keep in the past experiments
like this because they teach you lesson that you must learn in order to help jails in the west coast.
For example , giving training officers the appropriate training and have them go through the
psychological training , training on how to become better facilitators and leaders. Better problem
solving skills will improve the way they interact with inmates and both working together can be
more harmonizing rather than destructive to inmates and themselves. Also defining and giving
training on power and reminding guards that these inmates are actually human beings rather than
numbers can definitely improve the conditions.
The third problem that the jail must attack is how are the living conditions. Going back to
Dan Pacholke Teds Talk living conditions were bad for inmates. In the California statistics it
said that even through the rates of inmates have decrease their facilities is still 150 % into
capacity. We must find better ways to improve the living conditions which can better the inmates
health in general. Pacholke mentioned , Once you change the environment , you change the
behavior. This can be very true especially when they removed the toilets from the cells. Once
the toilets were removed from their cells health and sanitation improved , the inmates effective
communicated with guards, behavior and improvement was seen from the inmates. Also another
thing to keep in consideration is how are they building these jails , is there room or places where
its safe for inmates to be and interact. For example in the top tare there should be a wall where or

Factors and Prevention of Suicide in Large West Coast Jails

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something in the stairs that can enable them from going to places such as the roof and jumping
from such high elevations. I feel that if we work on making the facilities more safe in an aspect it
can help with the inmates.
Here is my proposal ( Prevention Plan ) to the Corrections operation here in the Jails of
the West Coast:
1. We evaluate inmates correctly when it comes to health and diseases. Statistics from
California show that there is on average 7,728 new mental cases as of 2012 just in California
alone. so finding a way to give the inmates the right treatment before it escalates its crucial.
These evaluation should be conducted every time they go visit their physician or
psychologist. This will help contain mental illness from getting worst and can help maintain
the inmate more safe. Advances such as the Affordable Care Act is helping the jail
population have health insurance while increasing health insurance enrollments in jail
populations it can reduce the corrections cost improve the public health and also safety
because they are getting the medical attention they need
2. We must train the guards to be more respectful to a human life. They must remember that
everyone makes mistakes and some of the inmates are acting in a certain behavior because
they are not well mentally. This goes back into making workshops to help guards learn
problem solving skills and knowing the difference between keeping peace and control and
being degrading and unprofessional. I feel like inmates should be to report that they are
being abused by a guard and it should be the facility right to give appropriate training. The
training will help guards be more aware of the diverse population and ethics that you would
see in a West Coast jail but also will make them more safe & overall better at there job. A

Factors and Prevention of Suicide in Large West Coast Jails

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feel like a 10 week program isn't enough , even the apprenticeship isn't enough. We need to
educate our guards and test their morals and values also before just throwing into the job.
This job I understand its not a easy one but degrading the inmates and making them feel less
isn't going to improve the communication or the health problems in the facility , its just
going to make it worst. This also might have to do a lot with what a typical guard
demographics are , they only need a high school diploma , no past experience and small
amount of training. I feel that if they invest the money into training the guards well , it can be
beneficial to the jail inmates and both the guard in the long run. Communication will be
better and neglecting should increase with increased training progress. The guards should
also get re-evaluated yearly to ensure that they are doing their best job of guarding and
keeping the peace in the jail. It is important to understand and listen to the communication
words inmates are telling guards. 60 % of inmates may communicate their intent to kill
themselves verbally or non verbally according to usmarshalls.gov.
3. When you look at the bigger picture, Jail can be the biggest asylum. It houses thousands of
thousands of inmates and things such as living condition is important. Improving the
environment is given to improve the behavior. It still a huge concern of sanitation the
amounts of inmates we have housed in our jails. Let alone in California , they are at 150%
capacity, we must find ways to improve living conditions in jails. The perfect example was
giving in one of the Ted Talks by Pacholke , the whole idea of having the bathroom and
sanitation separate from the room. This can decrease health illnesses and increase sanitation
and communication. Little changes such as the color of the paint , getting neutral colors that
will make it better for them will work. We associate colors with feelings and when you see a

Factors and Prevention of Suicide in Large West Coast Jails

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dark , rusty old paint it makes you feel down and sad and gives you no motivation. Cost
would not be so expensive because you can use the inmates as labor , gives goes to my
fourth proposal.
4. Having Extensive Recreational and Opportunities for Jail Inmates. We have the most largest
population of jail inmates why not put them to use ? Not only can this help this physical and
mental state , it can be a sense of purpose and motivation to the inmates. Like mentioned
earlier isolation is not good for an inmate why not have them involved in advances that
improve the community. Programs such as Forgotten voices , helping science advance when
it comes to helping surviving species , solar panels and gardening. Also being that sense of
helping the community when it comes to the youth , helping someone else not make the
same mistake the did can be crucial to a young adolescent life. When you get them more
involved , it will make them behave better and have something to look forward than 20 hours
of being trapped in a cell. This can definitely help the state when it comes to paying less
money for cleaning the state , less money on advance labor when they have a full facilities of
them all around. Recreational things such as sports , arts , and music can be therapeutic and
helpful
5. The last thing I would propose is helping the inmates connect more to families and love
ones. My friend told me that my fifteen minute call keeps him sane. It is important to help
them connect with loved ones , that again gives them strive and meaning. One of the biggest
concerns have been how the private companies have upscaled the prices on phone calls. In
average a fifteen minute phone call cost the inmate $3.50. To inmates who are in there in
poverty and cant afford to give there loved one a call that can be very depriving and

Factors and Prevention of Suicide in Large West Coast Jails

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concerning to their health. I propose that the inmates get at least one free call a day , you
never know how therapeutic fifteen minutes can be for someone who has lost their freedom.
That connection to their love one will give them power and courage to strive and become
better. The facility would be able to afford this because as productivity of the inmates
increases , so does help which will mean less suicide watch. If they invested their time in
getting the inmates trained to do jobs that can be cost free to the facility they will be able to
afford one call for each inmate in the long run.
6. If the inmate doesn't have family support , find someone in the community , give the inmate
counseling services and what they need to prevent them from committing suicide. Find them a
program where they can get highly involved and interested. Once you get them involved in
intensive programs , get them medical help and change their environment it can be a way to help
them coop and take the time to analyze their mistakes.

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Once the conditions of jails are improving , we will see the behavior and potential positive
outcomes that inmates can show. Inmates should be able to learn how to forgive themselves and
to feel like they have a purpose. If they are willing to help and believe in spreading the word it
can help future generations and younger generations not repeat the same mistakes. We cant just
simply be housing our inmates we must be thinking of them even before they are in jail , try to
get to have them make positive choices and avoid situations such as Tyrones. Only if all the
resources work together may jail inmate suicide be reduced , listen to the signs and what the
inmate have to say so they dont feel like Forgotten Voices rather than human beings.

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Factors and Prevention of Suicide in Large West Coast Jails

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Resources

Berzofsky, M. (n.d.). Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). Retrieved March 10, 2015, from http://
www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5219

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Daniel, A. (n.d.). Preventing Suicide in Prison: A Collaborative Responsibility of Administrative,

Custodial, and Clinical Staff. Retrieved March 10, 2015, from http://www.usmarshals.gov/
prisoner/suicide_prevention.pdf

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Health Care for California's Jail Population. (n.d.). Retrieved March 10, 2015, from http://
www.ppic.org/main/publication_quick.asp?i=1105

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Mai-duc, C. (n.d.). FCC to consider limiting costs of prison phone calls. Retrieved March 10,
2015, from http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-prison-phones-20130808-story.html#page=1

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(n.d.). Retrieved March 10, 2015, from http://www.usmarshals.gov/prisoner/jail_suicide.pdf
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Pacholke, D. (n.d.). "How prisons can help inmates live meaningful lives" Retrieved March 10,
2015, from https://www.ted.com/talks/
dan_pacholke_how_prisons_can_help_inmates_live_meaningful_lives/transcript?language=en

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Slepian, D. (n.d.). Voices from within | Dan Slepian | TEDxSingSing. Retrieved March 10, 2015,
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ilS9wmiEeo

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Suicide Prevention in Correctional Facilities: Reflections and Next Steps. (n.d.). Retrieved
March 10, 2015, from http://www.ncianet.org/suicide-prevention-in-correctional-facilitiesreflections-and-next-steps/