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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 1:46 am
Time: 1:46 am
Results for jail suicides
1 results foundAuthor: Fischer, Aaron J. Title: Suicides in San Diego County Jail: A System Failing People with Mental Illness Summary: San Diego County faces a crisis in its jail system. It has the highest reported number of suicides in a California jail system over several years - more than 30 suicide deaths since 2010. The inmate suicide rate has been many times higher than the rate in similarly sized county jails in California, the State prison system, and jails nationally. This is a crisis demanding meaningful action. While the County reported just one inmate suicide in 2017, which is a welcome decrease compared to previous years, the system remains deeply challenged. The incidence of inmate suicide attempts and serious self-harm remains extremely high - a rate of approximately two (2) per week. The frequency of suicide attempts indicates that the County must improve its treatment of people with mental health needs. Recognition that San Diego County has a problem with suicides and other deaths at the jail is not new. There has been a steady drumbeat of calls to action, from the County's grand juries, the media, and people who have been incarcerated at the jail and their loved ones. As the designated protection and advocacy system charged with protecting the rights of people with disabilities in California, Disability Rights California (DRC) opened an investigation into conditions at the San Diego County jails in 2015. We conducted tours of the County's jail facilities, and completed extensive interviews with Sheriff's Department leadership, jail staff, and jail inmates. We have reviewed thousands of pages of relevant policies and procedures, Sheriff's Department records, and individual inmate records. Our investigation focuses on four interconnected aspects of San Diego's County jail and mental health systems. We provide specific Recommendations regarding each. Over-Incarceration of People with Mental Health Needs. First, we found that there is an extremely high number of jail inmates with significant mental health treatment needs. The County's mental health care system, both inside and outside of the jail, has long operated in a way that leads to the dangerous, costly, and counter-productive over-incarceration of people with mental health-related disabilities. This includes a historical failure to provide sufficient community-based mental health services and supports that help individuals with mental health needs to thrive and avoid entanglement with the criminal justice system and incarceration. There is an urgent need for a better approach. We found that the County's recently developed Mental Health Services Act Plan and related initiatives - including increased community based-services and diversion/reentry efforts - provide a reason for optimism. Of course, the County's efforts will be judged on outcomes in the months and years ahead. Deficiencies in Suicide Prevention. Second, our two subject matter experts, who reviewed inmate suicide cases as well as relevant policies, identified significant deficiencies in the County's suicide prevention practices. These experts, Karen Higgins, M.D., and Robert Canning, Ph.D., CCHP, have considerable expertise in suicide prevention and mental health treatment in detention facilities. They have completed a detailed written report (Appendix A), which identifies twenty-four (24) Key Deficiencies in the County's system and provides forty-six (46) Recommendations to address those deficiencies. While we are convinced that the Sheriff's Department has begun to take the issue of suicide prevention seriously, there remain many aspects of the system's treatment of people at risk of suicide that require urgent action. Failure to Provide Adequate Mental Health Treatment. Third, we found that the County's jail system subjects inmates with mental health needs to a grave risk of psychological and other harms by failing to provide adequate mental health treatment. Making matters worse, the County subjects inmates to dangerous solitary confinement conditions that take an enormous toll on individuals' mental health and well-being. A substantial number of the suicides in San Diego County's jails have occurred in designated segregation units and other units with solitary confinement conditions. Even with committed jail leadership and staff efforts to reduce solitary confinement and improve conditions, insufficient staffing and lack of other critical resources have caused these problems to persist. Lack of Meaningful, Independent Oversight. Fourth, we found that the existing systems of jail oversight have failed. The time has come for the County to create an independent and professional oversight entity to monitor jail conditions, suicide prevention and mental health treatment practices, and other jail operations. A truly effective independent oversight entity, building on the models developed in Los Angeles County, Santa Clara County, Sonoma County, and other jurisdictions across the country, would enhance the County's efforts to address its historical challenges in its jails, help to achieve and solidify system improvements, and strengthen the trust of the community through greater transparency. We have found that the County's jails have the great advantage of committed mental health staff and a number of strong leaders within the Sheriff's Department. They will need sustained investment and support from the County - along with true transparency and accountability - to achieve a durable solution to the inmate suicide crisis, the deficiencies in mental health treatment inside the jail, and the over-incarceration of people with mental health needs. Details: Sacramento: Disability Rights California, 2018. 71p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 8, 2018 at: https://www.disabilityrightsca.org/system/files/file-attachments/SDsuicideReport.pdf Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: https://www.disabilityrightsca.org/system/files/file-attachments/SDsuicideReport.pdf Shelf Number: 150114 Keywords: Jail InmatesJail SuicidesMental Health ServicesMentally Ill InmatesMentally Ill PersonsSuicides |