Bristol County Sheriff’s Office implemented ways to reduce inmate suicide that turned out to be award winning
On Tuesday, the Massachusetts Sheriffs Association presented the Innovation of the Year award to the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office.
Innovation in jail administration that greatly enhances jail operations and creates safer and more effective facilities is recognized with the Innovation of the Year award.
In the past, the BCSO had the highest suicide rate in the state and three times the national average. Sheriff Heroux hired Lindsay Hayes, a nationally renowned specialist on convict suicide, in his first month in office to advise the BCSO on methods to lower the suicide rate. 23 concrete strategies to lower suicide in the BCSO were included in the paper. Below is a link to that report.
By adding an enclosed triangular stepladder and removing areas where someone may hang himself, the BCSO made the bunk beds suicide-resistant. The maintenance crew also addressed the dangers created by bars across windows throughout the renovation. They created a metal screen that made it possible for windows to open while removing any means of self-hanging.
In collaboration with the office’s vocational welding program, these innovations—such as suicide-resistant windows and beds—are giving offenders useful job skills for when they are released from prison. Within the Sheriff’s Office, the maintenance crew has improved safety while encouraging innovation and problem-solving.
When incarcerated for the first time, for a high-profile crime, or for a crime that is likely to end in a conviction that carries a lengthy sentence, some prisoners are at an increased risk of suicide. Compared to those who have been detained for a lengthy period of time or more than once, newly admitted inmates are more likely to attempt suicide. Someone who has lost hope or feels depressed that things won’t improve in the future is the primary characteristic of someone who is about to take their own life.
Sheriff Heroux reports that although the BCSO cannot guarantee that all inmate suicides will be prevented, they are making strides toward a far lower inmate suicide rate.
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