Seven suicides by inmates in Connecticut's prisons this year have prompted the Department of Correction to reassess agency policy.
Following the most recent suicide on Sept. 28, Correction Commissioner Theresa Lantz called a suicide prevention strategy summit last week. Officials last year hired two experts from the National Institute of Corrections to assess the department's suicide prevention policies.
Officials say corrections staff halted 146 attempted suicides last year. Correction officials say most recommendations, such as eliminating shoelaces, protrusions in cells and other objects that inmates can use to commit suicide, are in place. Officials say they will soon distribute a pamphlet to visitors to notify prison officials if they see potential signs of suicide. Correction employees also were given cards that provide warning signs of suicide.
A federal report in August said suicide rates in local jails and in state prisons nationally have dropped since the 1980s. Statistics don't explain that Connecticut is among six states with a combined jail and prison system, with the system housing accused and sentenced offenders. Nationally, jails that typically are where suspects first enter the correction system have a higher rate of suicide because they have a more vulnerable population.
State correction officials say they have found few trends or similarities among the recent suicides in Connecticut, except that a majority have been awaiting trial. Mental health advocates say the system is absorbing more individuals with mental health problems and union officials say a lack of staffing contributes to the problem.
But Lantz said she has added 29 staff members to the intake facilities and 12 staff members at Garner Correctional Institution where the correction agency has consolidated services for the most seriously mentally ill.
“We need a sense of balance. It's not just throwing bodies at a problem,” she said. “We called national experts, enhanced training and made mental health a focus of my administration since the day I came in as commissioner.”
Mental health advocates blame the suicides on the prison system increasingly taking in more individuals with mental illness due to an inadequate community mental health system. Since 2000, the number of moderate to seriously mentally ill offenders rose from 2,247 to 3,709, according to the correction agency.
Steven Helfand, director of mental health services with the University of Connecticut Correctional Managed Heath Care, which provides medical and mental health care to the jails and prisons, said the higher numbers may indicate the agency has improved identifying mental health problems.