Three Suicides in Rhode Island Prisons in Recent Months
GoLocalProv News Team
Three Suicides in Rhode Island Prisons in Recent Months
A spokesperson for one of the families of one of the individuals announced that he died last week in the minimum security facility. He was in his early 20s.
J.R. Ventura, the Chief of Information & Public Relations Officer wrote in a statement to GoLocal, “All individuals sent to us receive a health assessment during the intake process, and sometimes they need to be housed away from the general population to prevent acts of violence and keep everyone safe. In the past few months there have been three completed suicides: two at the ISC and one at Maximum Security. As an agency, we have far fewer completed suicides than many other correctional facilities in the United States.”
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Have Not Releasing Reports to Date
Officials have not released the names, dates or reports of the deaths.
“Because these three are still under investigation by the RI State Police as well as HIPAA, privacy, and security concerns, we cannot discuss details. However, we can say that in every case, the Correctional Officers found the inmates unresponsive in their rooms, and immediately began performing CPR and other life saving measures while they waited for Cranston Rescue to arrive,” according to Ventura.
“They were all transported to outside hospitals where they were later pronounced dead. In each instance, all indications have been that no other individuals were involved, and policy was followed by staff. We have worked – and are currently working – with outside experts to continue to update and modernize our correctional practices and mitigate suicide risk factors inside our secure facilities. Our staff has no higher priority than to keep everyone safe,” added Ventura.
National Increase
A study by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics published in 2021 found:
- From 2001 to 2019, the number of suicides increased 85% in state prisons, 61% in federal prisons, and 13% in local jails.
- During 2010-19, suffocation, including hanging and self-strangulation, accounted for nearly 90% of suicide deaths in local jails.
- During 2015-19, about 12% of deaths by suicide in local jails occurred within the first 24 hours of incarceration, a decrease from almost 22% during 2000-04.
- The average suicide rate for white inmates in local jails was 93 per 100,000 during the 5-year period of 2015-19, which is 5 times the rate for black inmates (18 per 100,000) and more than 3 times the rate for Hispanic inmates (26 per 100,000).
The National Institute of Corrections reports, “The rates of inmate suicide are far higher than the national averages, and even higher still for special populations (including juvenile and LGBTI inmates), even corrections officers have a much greater occupational suicide rate.”