Suicides are still a serious problem in California prisons, according to a court-appointed monitor of the state’s prison mental health care system.
Special Master Matt Lopes said it is too soon for the state to retake control of its prison mental health system, because health care providers have not adequately dealt with the problem of prison suicides.
“We take suicide very seriously and have one of the most robust suicide prevention programs in the nation,” said Deborah Hoffman, spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in a Sacramento Bee report.
“California’s prison suicide rate is half that of local jails; lower than many other state prison systems, in fact, lower than the suicide rate of adult males outside of prison,” said Hoffman.
However, Lopes said the gains in mental health care were not enough, citing “needed changes that went undone because of a lack of statewide monitoring and central oversight.” He added, “California would need to address (those steps) if it were to take over mental health care on its own,” according to The Los Angeles Times.
Lopes said that 32 state prisoners committed suicide last year, averaging one every 11 days. This puts the state’s suicide rate at 24 per 100,000 inmates, which is higher than the national rate of 16 per 100,000 prisoners. Lopes said the suicide prevention measures agreed upon two years ago have not been fully implemented.
“The problem of inmate suicides in CDCR prisons must be resolved before the remedial phase of the Coleman case (which resulted in federal takeover of prison mental health care) can be ended,” Lopes told the LA Times. “The gravity of this problem calls for further intervention, to do any less and to wait any longer risk further loss of lives.”
San Quentin has a suicide prevention program run by prisoners, called Brother’s Keepers.