Suicide Attempts

Suicide attempts in jail are quite common. If you think about people in jail, they are typically people who are at very low points in their life. Whether they are there because they have a drug problem that's spiraling out of control or they got into a fight with their spouse over their failing marriage the people who have come to jail are in bad situations. Even if the reason they landed in a jail cell is nothing major many people are unable to see the big picture. They are so distraught over their current situation that they are unable to look towards the future in any positive way.

I would say there have probably been somewhere around 20 suicide attempts in the jail I work in over the past 3 years. Of those, none have been successful. Some have come quite close however.
The most common ways have been by hanging yourself with a bed sheet or clothing or by jumping off the top tier of a housing unit.

I have been directly involved in both. In one particular incident there was a male who was thinking about killing himself. He had climbed the railing on the top tier and was standing on top of it. This is only about 20 feet at most which is one reason why these suicide attempts fail. He spent several minutes on top of the railing most likely contemplating how he should try to fall in order to kill himself. Luckily this gave us enough time to respond.

When we entered the housing unit several of us ran directly up the stairs. Others stayed on the main level. I happened to be the first one up the stairs and therefore the first to make contact with the inmate. I felt the best choice was just to grab the inmate before he had any more time to think about what he was doing so I did just that. I grabbed the inmate by the waist, spun away from the railing and pulled him with me. As I did this two deputies behind me made contact with us. We all came crashing down on the floor with the inmate underneath us. It was a tense situation that luckily was resolved quickly without anyone being injured.

Most "jumper" situations don't end this way. We've had several inmates jump off the tier. Depending on how they land they almost always break either their legs, feet, arms or heads. As a Correctional Officer you have to be prepared to deal with these things both physically and mentally.

As I mentioned previously the other common method is to attempt to hang yourself. Inmates find a way to tie their bedding or clothing around their necks and to their bunks that they cut off circulation of blood to their brain or cut off air to their lungs. Part of our job is to check on inmates at least once every hour. Inmates that appear or admit to being suicidal are checked on either every 30 minutes, 15 minutes or constantly depending on how suicidal we think they are.

Anyone that attempts to hurt themselves is placed in a padded cell (unless they need to be transported to the hospital). The only clothes they are allowed is a suicide gown and suicide blanket. These are made of special material that is almost impossible to rip or tie making them almost impossible to use to kill yourself. The toilet is basically a hole in the ground.

Every jail and prison has different methods of dealing with suicidal inmates but if you go into corrections you will deal with similar situations one way or another.