Colorado jails taking measures to curb inmate suicides
In Arapahoe County, there is plexiglass paneling on bunk beds. Jefferson County’s strategy involves flexible pens. And in Denver, it is tear-resistant sheets and blankets.
Across the state, jails and prisons are employing an array of strategies to push back against rising inmate deaths and suicide attempts, a problem complicated by the state’s burgeoning mental health and opioid abuse crises.
“We certainly aren’t naive enough to think this is a suicide-proofing program,” said Vince Line, detention services bureau chief for Arapahoe County. “Inmates are creative, and if they’re intent on self-harm, they will find a method to accomplish that.”
This year has seen a string of inmate suicides in Colorado, from a man found last month in a Douglas County cell hung by a sheet from his bed, a self-strangulation death in Mesa County a week later and two strangulation suicides in Jefferson County, one in September and one in June.
Read more at denverpost.com.
GOLDEN, CO – March 09: The Jefferson County Detention Facility, also known as the Jeffco jail, in Golden, Colorado on March 9, 2016. The detention center is designed to accommodate approximately 1,300 inmates in minimum to maximum-security units and houses both male and female detainees in separate housing modules. (Photo by Katie Wood/The Denver Post)
Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Department via Denver Post
GOLDEN, CO – March 09: The Jefferson County Detention Facility, also known as the Jeffco jail, in Golden, Colorado on March 9, 2016. The detention center is designed to accommodate approximately 1,300 inmates in minimum to maximum-security units and houses both male and female detainees in separate housing modules. (Photo by Katie Wood/The Denver Post)
