Title: Preventing Inmate Suicide: The Ultimate Patient Safety Measure
Headings: Preventing Inmate Suicide: The Ultimate Patient Safety Measure
Preventing Inmate Suicide: The Ultimate Patient Safety Measure
Start with Screening
Screening is Only the Beginning
Making the Most of a Bad Outcome

Content: Preventing Inmate Suicide: The Ultimate Patient Safety Measure
Preventing Inmate Suicide: The Ultimate Patient Safety Measure
By Lori Roscoe
20 Oct
Suicide is a leading cause of inmate death in both settings. According to the US Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, there are over 300 county jail suicides each year. That makes suicide the leading cause of death in jails. If you work in a jail or prison, preventing suicide is a primary way to decrease patient injury and death. While suicide deaths in the US population are just under 13 for every 100,000 citizens, suicide deaths in jails in 2013 were an astounding 46 per 100,000 inmates. The suicide rate in US jails is over 3.5 times the rate among the general public. Lindsay Hayes MS, a Project Director with the National Center on Institutions & Alternatives in Mansfield, MA has followed jail suicide rates for over 35 years and he has seen significant progress in preventing suicides in our setting. He remembers at the start of his career that “the jail suicide rate was 107 suicides per 100,000 inmates or nine times greater than the general population.