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| Saving Inmates From Selves |
| By Newsday |
| Published: 01/03/2003 |
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The wraparound smocks are forest green, slightly longer than knee length and are made up of a heavy nylon cover with polyester filling. These garments, with Velcro-like closures, aren't fashion statements, but they are designed to save lives. The so-called anti-suicide smocks are part of a package of items now being introduced at the Suffolk County jail, where two inmates killed themselves this year by hanging bedsheets to grates in their cells. So, at a cost of about $510,000, jail officials are installing anti-suicide ventilation grates in cells, and using the smocks, with blankets made of the same tear-resistant material, for inmates on suicide watch. The specially designed items will be used in cells that are stripped of anything the inmates could use to hurt themselves. In the past, inmates diagnosed as extremely suicidal usually were placed in stripped cells wearing only underwear. No sheets or blankets were allowed. A paper suit was scrapped after several inmates attempted suicide by twisting it into a ligature, officials said. In recent years, the state has criticized Suffolk for its care of suicidal inmates, some of whom were not watched constantly. Under Sheriff Alfred Tisch, elected last fall, at-risk inmates who didn't warrant a stripped cell were placed under constant watch. Under the new program, any inmate considered suicidal will be placed in a stripped cell with the new smock and blanket. 'This is at least giving them a lot more comfort,' Louis Gallagher, the jail's mental health director, said. 'You're wearing something you can't hurt yourself with and it's a lot more humane.' Undersheriff Walter Denzler said there has been a sharp decrease in the number of inmates on suicide watch since the items came into use - from 40 inmates the week before the smocks and blankets arrived to 10 yesterday. Gallagher speculated that inmates didn't want the stigma of wearing the smocks. 'This could be an anti-motivator for malingerers,' who sometimes fake suicidal behavior, he said. Lindsay Hayes, a jail suicide expert for the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives in Mansfield, Mass., said the items have been used with success in other jails. But Hayes and James Lawrence, director of operations for the state Commission of Correction, cautioned that the smock, blanket and grate must be used in addition to good screening and supervision by well-trained jail staff. Hayes also warned that the sack-like smocks and stripped cells might discourage some truly suicidal inmates from expressing their intentions. 'You might be missing people,' said Hayes. 'You might be reducing people on suicide watch but are you missing people who are truly suicidal who are now off your radar screen?' Gallagher said mental health officials had also intensified suicide screening and tightened policies on how suicide watch was ordered. The smock and blanket also have been ordered by Nassau. Suffolk jail officials put the items out to bid and bought 40 sets at about $98 per smock and a little less per blanket. The suicide-proof grates, which are made by Anemostat of Carson, Calif., cost $300 each and $300 to install, Warden Thomas Murphy said. They will be placed in all 540 cells by the end of next year. All three items are being used successfully in jails in other areas of the Northeast, Murphy said. The grates have small openings, which are angled in such a way to prevent inmates from threading any material through them. |
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