As Inmate Suicide Rates Soar, Experts Blame ‘Culture Of Dismissiveness’ Toward Prison Mental Health Needs
An investigation between The Associated Press and Capital News Service found serious problems with how inmates who have mental health struggles fare in local jails across the country. While experts call for better targeted response to inmates' needs, local prisons already struggling to stay afloat and say "we're not the nation's psychologists."
The Associated Press/Capital News Service:
AP Investigation: Many US Jails Fail To Stop Inmate Suicides
Increasingly, troubling questions are being raised about the treatment of mentally ill inmates in the nation's 3,100 local jails, possible patterns of neglect — and whether better care could have saved lives. A joint investigation by The Associated Press and the University of Maryland's Capital News Service finds many jails have been sued or investigated in recent years for allegedly refusing inmates medication to help manage mental illness, ignoring cries for help, failing to properly monitor them, or imposing excessively harsh conditions. (Cohen and Eckert, 6/18)
The Associated Press/Capital News Service:
Government Fails To Release Data On Deaths In Police Custody
More than four years after Congress required the Department of Justice to assemble information about those who die in police custody, the agency has yet to implement a system for collecting that data or release any new details of how and why people die under the watch of law enforcement. The information vacuum is hampering efforts to identify patterns that might lead to policies to prevent deaths during police encounters, arrests and incarceration, say advocates and the congressman who sponsored the Death in Custody Reporting Act. (Ready, Gaskill and Eckert, 6/18)
The Associated Press/Capital News Service:
Q&A: A Look At The Issue Of Mentally Ill Inmates In Jails
The nation's jails face increasing pressures as they house large numbers of mentally ill and addicted inmates. But the policies that contributed to this problem are decades in the making. Here's a look at why the population of troubled inmates has increased in jails and what's being done to address the problem. (Cohen, 6/18)
The Associated Press/Capital News Service:
Some Of The Stories Behind Those Involved In Jail Suicides
A Marine with PTSD, a schizophrenic father, a granddad struggling with depression: They are just some of the many who've taken their lives in U.S. jails — a problem experts say is preventable with more training and safeguards. Here are their stories. (6/18)
