Prisoners are killing themselves in record numbers in California prisons. 25 prisoners killed themselves in the first seven months of 2005 (January-July), already more than the 26 suicides for all of 2004. As of a month ago, California was on pace for a suicide rate of 22 suicides per 100,000 prisoners. This compares to a country-wide prison suicide rate of 13 deaths per 100,000 prisoners, and 11 deaths per 100,000 in society at large, according to the Associated Press' source.(1)
Defending themselves, prison officials have tried denying the science behind the numbers: "We don't believe that the rate in California is higher than the national average." The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokespersyn Terry Thornton said that the rate fluctuates, as if the fluctuation were just random. Prison officials have also pointed out (apparently as a defense) that there are more than 400 prisoner suicide attempts each year, but that most are not successful.(1)
There is an ongoing class-action lawsuit on behalf of mentally ill inmates. The Sacramento Bee on August 27th reported:
"The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation this month missed a deadline imposed by a federal judge to implement a policy calling for corrections officers to administer CPR to inmates who have attempted suicide and to track inmates' history of suicidal behavior, said attorneys who represent mentally ill inmates in a 15-year-old class action lawsuit."(2)
The California prison guard union is apparently holding up plans to train prison staff in CPR to give prisoners immediate life support. Thomas Nolan, an attorney for the mentally ill inmates, said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Tillman told him that she wasn't "sure whether negotiations had begun with the correctional officers' union regarding CPR." The Sacramento Bee cites a projected California prison system suicide rate for 2005 of 27.2 suicides per 100,000 inmates. The Sacramento Bee attributes this figure to a Special Master who reports to the judge in the class-action suit.
"A report of the special master filed in April in Sacramento federal court says that 74.2 percent of the 36 suicides in the state prison system in 2003 'involved some measure of inadequate treatment or intervention.' "(2)
Mental illness is considered a security concern in California prisons. This means that prisoners considered mentally ill are put in higher-security prisons where they are locked in their cells for most of the day, and have even fewer privileges. The conditions in California high-security prisons are bad enough to cause even the most levelheaded prisoners to become unbalanced. The effects on prisoners labeled mentally ill are even more dangerous. Further, when prisoners attempt suicide, the standard practice is to stand by and wait for medical people to arrive, rather than provide immediate life support.
MIM received a report from one prisoner locked up in Pelican Bay State Prison in August 2005. He wrote: "I've seen too many fellow prisoners fall victim, or better yet fall prey to these so called 'psychiatrists' here and in other institutions. You have perfectly healthy men in here running around like damn zombies. They keep them so heavily medicated that it takes all their ability to even do the simplest of things."
This prisoner went on to talk about the article criticizing the prisons for such a high suicide rate: "According to the department's spokeswoman 'They [California Department of Corrections] don't know what's causing it.' Ha Ha Ha, it's not that they don't know what's causing such high suicide rates. It's that they don't care. Besides, they would have to be crazy to say they know what the problem is, because they would have to shut down all their damn torture chambers and fire all those goddamn quacks they have running around here.
"Anybody who even remotely questions my claims, I ask them to come visit the so-called Psychiatric Housing Unit (PSU) here in Pelican Bay. Or as a matter of fact, just visit any ad-seg. As a mentally disturbed prisoner you have one of two choices. Number one, continue to be heavily sedated, and eventually lose whatever sense you have left. Or number two, unfortunately do what so many others have done to try to escape their harsh and unbearable realities (suicide). I know this may sound somewhat harsh to certain individuals, but this is reality for us.
"I believe it was Mao who said 'to change reality one has to live in it.' So for me to sugar coat anything that has to do with our oppressive conditions in here, I feel would be a deep injustice to us."
This high suicide rate in the adult prison is paralleled by the problem in the youth prisons ("juvenile detention" facilities), also well-known for their cruel conditions. The latest suicide, on August 31, was at Chad prison near Stockton, California. Youth at this facility were on lockdown, stuck in their cells for a week prior to this suicide. This came just a day after six Chad prison employees, who were fired after being videotaped beating two youth, were given their jobs back.(3) September 5 is the anniversary of the death of another youth at Chad, his cause of death was "unknown." The director of the California Youth Authority (CYA) ordered the Chad facility to stop accepting new youths and is considering closing the facility.
MIM Notes regularly prints articles by prisoners describing the horrible conditions behind bars, including in the mental health units. With recent reports about deteriorating conditions in California prisons, and with the administration revoking even the smallest of privileges, it is not a surprise to us that the suicide rate is increasing.
Notes
1. Don Thompson (Associated Press), "Prison System criticized over rate of suicides," 7 August 2005, http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050807/news_1n7suicides.html
Don Thompson (Associated Press), "State's prison suicide rate prompts call for changes," 8 August 2005 (04:53:13 AM PDT), http://www.modbee.com/local/story/11052705p-11810715c.html
"Prison officials suggested California may send more of its mentally ill criminals to prison than other states that divert them to hospitals or other treatment. They also noted there typically are more than 400 inmate suicide attempts each year, but relatively few are completed."
2. Denny Walsh, "Prison officials' effort on suicides criticized," 27 August 2005, http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/california/story/13479019p-14319790c.html
3. Mark Gladstone, "Teen found dead in youth prison," San Jose Mercury News, 6 September 2005, http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/12542183.htm