The rate of suicide in America’s jails exceeds that in prisons, the military, and the general population. In this bulletin, we describe current and historical data on jail suicides in the US, discuss factors pertaining to jail suicides, and present strategies demonstrated to prevent in-custody suicides.
Drawing on research and the expertise of correctional researchers, officers, and clinicians, this issue brief describes the problem of suicide among correctional officers and identifies barriers and opportunities for suicide prevention efforts in the correctional officer workforce in the United States.
This report will highlight recent resilience-focused approaches to help mental health providers promote and support effective life skills strategies among correctional officers.
A Tool for Local Government Officials, Jail Administrators, Correctional Officers, and Health Care Professionals.
For the first time, Medicaid is being authorized to cover some health services for individuals in the period before they are released from incarceration. This fact sheet summarizes recent changes that are taking effect.
Outline of maternal/pregnancy warning signs.
In an effort to address correctional staffing challenges and
increase job satisfaction among staff working in Tennessee’s
jails, the Tennessee Corrections Institute (TCI) partnered with
researchers from Austin Peay State University (APSU) and the
Crime and Justice Institute (CJI) to conduct interviews with a
sample of jail staff across the state.
To identify implementation barriers and facilitators to the adoption and implementation of programs that provide opioid agonist treatments (OAT) with methadone and buprenorphine to treat opioid use disorder in jails and prisons in the United States.
In December 2020, Congress lifted a 26-year ban on Pell Grants for incarcerated students. The ban, enacted amid a slew of “tough-on-crime” policies in the 1990s, stripped people in prison of access to this federal financial aid. Incarcerated people earn pennies per hour for the work they do in prison, making it next to impossible for them to afford postsecondary education without financial support. Under the ban, the number of prison education programs shrank drastically, from 772 programs in the early 1990s to only eight in 1997. The FAFSA Simplification Act, which restores access to Pell Grants for people in prison, will make it possible once again for thousands to pursue postsecondary education.
Through the Suicide Prevention Resource Guide, the National Commission on Correctional Health Care and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention have joined forces to work toward reducing the incidence of suicide in jails and prisons. The guide focuses on three areas key to suicide prevention in corrections: assessment, intervention and treatment, and training. The aim is to educate the field on how to better identify and help inmates at risk for suicide, safely manage those identified as at high risk, and provide consistent, comprehensive training to all involved personnel.