Grappling with despair

Jun. 18—An inmate at the Wilson County Jail attempted to take their own life last Sunday. While incidents like that are difficult to predict, jail officials have several steps in place aimed to prevent and to react to suicide attempts.

The Wilson County Sheriff's Office oversees the county jail. Correctional officers monitor up to 450 inmates housed anywhere from weekenders to felons. Even with those numbers, Major David Bennett, the lead jail administrator, indicated that the frequency for suicide attempts is anything but consistent.

"You may go six months and never have a suicide or suicide attempt," Bennett said. "Then, in one week, we may have multiple suicide attempts. You do the best you can and work to keep everyone safe."

Throughout the inmate's unsuccessful attempt last weekend, Bennett mentioned that the inmate never lost consciousness but was still transferred for medical examination.

"His cellmate yelled at a correctional officer and told them he had tied himself up," Bennett said. "When they got to him, he was breathing on his own, so no life-saving treatment was required."

That time, the result was positive, but the jail administrator acknowledged that it's not if, but when, it will happen again, even with parameters in place designed to prevent it.

"Every (inmate) who comes in gets a screening," Bennett said. "When we book them in, we ask if they have ever been locked up before. We ask for their general health history."

Once that line of questioning is complete, Bennett indicated that they get into inquiries about the inmate's mental health.

"Some of those questions can be, 'Do you have a drug addiction,' " Bennett said. "We ask them point blank, 'Are you thinking about hurting yourself?' We also ask if they have ever attempted to do something like that."

The direct questioning doesn't always yield accurate responses, but Bennett said that trying to determine that is not a luxury they have.

"Pretty much every week, when someone comes in and is asked that question, we have a lot of them say they might hurt themselves," Bennett said. "If someone comes in and they are impaired, they might not mean it, but you still have to take it seriously."

Additionally, the examination explores family history.

"We ask if they have lost a family member to suicide," Bennett said. "Some of these questions, if they answer yes to, it triggers us to contact our medical provider."

The jail has a full-time psychiatric nurse on staff, and a psychiatric doctor that can be called in for situations that are deemed sufficient to warrant a visit.

"You have some people that may be on psych meds for their nerves or something like that," Bennett said. "We're fortunate that with our medical provider, we can address if someone may just need their medication."

Every inmate, whether on watch or not, is still checked on hourly. It's called a life-safety check.

"As a correctional officer, your number one job is making life-safety checks," Bennett said. "Everything else takes a back seat to that."

The jail establishes a more frequent basis for checks if the inmate is on any kind of medical watch. If the inmate has attempted suicide before, Bennett indicated that they may be placed under constant supervision.

So what is causing inmates to attempt to take their own life? Bennett said that its usually the same kind of pressures that cause someone on the outside to attempt suicide.

"The inside of a jail is like a society," Bennett said. "The same thing that triggers an inmate inside here could be the same that triggers it outside. Like getting divorce papers, or a cancer diagnosis ... those kinds of things trigger people."

Oftentimes, when an inmate is pushed over the edge, it's other inmates who report them.

"Nobody wants to see that or be involved in that," Bennett said of suicide. "Inmates will come to the aid. We've had them notify us. You may want to check on the guy in cell one ... he's not acting right. Whenever they notify us, it becomes an emergency call. Most people are good people and will try to help somebody if they see it. They'll sound the alarm."

Every inmate receives the hourly life-safety checks, but Bennett said that the types of convictions facing inmates can have a lot to do with how the jail monitors them.

"If somebody gets a very lengthy sentence, we watch them closely," Bennett said. "Anything life-changing for them, like a serious conviction, you want to take their needs into consideration."

Bennett lamented over the fact that suicide attempts are a reality inside the jail.

"I have always said that (suicide) is the last thing you ever want to have someone to do," Bennett said. "No matter what they may have done, someone out there loves them."

By the numbers

According to statistics compiled by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, about 1,000 inmates die in custody in the United States each year. Nearly one-third of those are suicides.

A corrections expert from Rikers Island in New York City, Steve J. Martin, indicated in a report to National Public Radio that inmates in local jails are more likely to attempt to take their own life than a counterpart in a prison facility.

Martin attributes that phenomenon to what he calls the "shock of confinement."

In fact, according to those Bureau of Justice statistics, an inmate in jail is almost three times as likely to attempt suicide as someone in prison.

Much like what Bennett reported, those in jail could be facing legal trouble for the very first time.

"Someone that comes to jail that has never been to jail though, their whole world is crashing around them," Bennett said. "They feel like they don't have anywhere to go."