It's a Pennsylvania newspaper that features a pretty good article about suicide behind bars:
Death behind bars
Prison suicides linked to risk factors, inability to cope
By Phil Ray
Nathan J. Aughenbaugh of Morrisdale was placed in Blair County Prison June 21 for a probation violation after his vehicle was stopped by Tyrone police.
The 27-year-old college student told a judge that he suffered from chronic pain, anxiety and depression. He was on prescription medication for the pain and other problems.
* * *
Aughenbaugh wasn’t a typical criminal. He wasn’t selling drugs or committing robberies. He wasn’t violent.
His father, James C. Aughenbaugh of West Decatur, said his son was smart, on the debate team in high school and a student leader at Edinboro University.
Mostly recently, he attended Penn State Altoona. He wanted to teach political science and become a college professor.
‘‘He had so many friends at Edinboro, Altoona, Clearfield, Philipsburg. ... He just couldn’t control the drug thing,’’ the elder Aughenbaugh said.
The courts went easy on Nathan Aughenbaugh, placing him on probation without verdict, a disposition that focuses on treatment as opposed to jail.
A letter presented in court from a Tyrone doctor pointed out that Nathan Aughenbaugh suffered from chronic pain because of an accident and outlined the medical treatment he was receiving.
* * *
Nathan Aughenbaugh was the type of prisoner who raises red flags when he enters Blair County Prison, based on the mental health history and mental status of the inmate upon incarceration.
A screening test indicated he should be placed on suicide watch, meaning a corrections officer should have checked on him every 15 minutes.
An inmate on watch is gradually phased into the prison population and finally placed in a cellblock.
His progress is monitored by Jennifer Feathers, a forensic specialist and an employee of Altoona Regional Health System.
The hospital is under contract with PrimeCare, a Harrisburg-based company that provides medical care to inmates, and Feathers assesses the risk factors of inmates coming into the jail.
If placing the inmate on watch and working with him to identify problems and establish treatment goals doesn’t work, the jail can petition for a 90-day mental health commitment, Feathers said.
Male inmates are sent to Warren State Hospital, and female inmates to Mayview State Hospital.
Feathers, corrections officers and other jail officials undergo regular training to spot and deal with high-risk inmates like Aughenbaugh; yet suicides, although few in number, occur on a regular basis in county jails and state prisons.
* Jeremy Montgomery, 26, of Altoona, who was being held as a robbery suspect in Lehigh County Prison for an alleged probation violation, hanged himself Tuesday with a bedsheet in his cell. Montgomery also was serving a three- to 23-month sentence for possession of a controlled substance.
* The State Correctional Institution at Smithfield reported June 25 the hanging death of Joseph Kapa, who was serving a 10- to 20-year sentence for robbery. In a letter to the Mirror from Smithfield inmate David Lusick, who calls himself ‘‘The Law Dog,’’ says Kapa was distressed because he was being antagonized by another inmate.
* David A. Popish of Beaverdale committed suicide in April at Cambria County Prison.
* Jeremy Shane Corbin, 32, of Bellwood, who was in Blair County Prison on domestic issues, committed suicide in October. Like Aughenbaugh, he too was found to be a high-risk inmate upon incarceration.
* In September, during a bloody standoff with murder suspect Torone Dixon, another inmate in Cambria County Prison, whose name has not been released, killed himself. Coroner Dennis Kwiatkowski believes that suicide occurred ‘‘probably because the opportunity arose.’’
* Other suicides during the past year have occurred at state correctional institutions in Rockview, Huntingdon and Houtzdale. Susan McNaughton, spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections, reported that five state inmates killed themselves in 2006, while four committed suicide in the first seven months of 2007.
* * *
Inmate suicide is relatively rare considering the thousands of men and women who are incarcerated and admitted to Pennsylvania’s jails and prisons annually.
Blair County alone processes 150 to 200 inmates each month.
Yet suicide is something Blair County officials have to live with and think about every day.
Marc Masucci, the jail’s treatment supervisor, classifies inmates. As part of his job, he asks inmates questions, ideally within 24 hours of commitment, that help identify risk.
Officers who admit inmates also are trained to assess risk, and they place inmates on suicide watch if they consider a person at risk when Feathers isn’t present, Masucci said.
An inmate is kept under watch until Feathers can provide professional assessment.
The job of assessing risk, however, is a tough one that requires jail authorities to try to walk in the shoes of the inmate.
‘‘We have to watch for the signs. It’s hard to read these guys,’’ Masucci said.
Feathers and Masucci pointed out that what may be a crisis for one person is not for another.
Aughenbaugh and Corbin, for example, were behind bars for relatively minor offenses and probably didn’t face a long time in jail, but the stress of going to jail for such a person can be enormous, Masucci said.
Feathers said some inmates lack coping skills, and their mood changes when they feel they can’t handle a situation at a given moment.
In his mind, an inmate sees himself possibly losing his family, his job, his home and his freedom, Masucci said.
‘‘That’s a shock to a lot of guys,’’ he said.
Other inmates may experience severe mental health problems or be drug abusers who keep returning to jail and ‘‘feel they can’t get out of this cycle,’’ Masucci said.
Sometimes a suicide attempt may be a way of getting attention, he said.
Kwiatkowski put prison suicide in perspective, saying, ‘‘Jail is not a pleasant place to be.’’
* * *
Blair County’s Acting Warden John Wagner said a suicide attempt can occur on the spur of the moment, like it did with one inmate who was arguing with his girlfriend on the phone.
After the call, he went to a second tier at the jail and jumped off. He landed on a metal table and did not die.
Wagner said Blair officers this year have saved four or five inmates attempting to commit suicide.
* * *
Prisons didn’t always assess inmates or help them cope with their problems. But in June 1995, a project headed by Lindsay M. Hayes through the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives in Mansfield, Mass., threw a spotlight on inmate suicide.
According to her report, the issue ‘‘must be viewed in the context of a process by which an inmate is ill-equipped to handle certain stressful factors of confinement.
‘‘Over time, these factors can include loss of outside relationships, conflicts within the facility, victimization, further legal problems, physical and emotional breakdown and a wide variety of other problems.
‘‘When an inmate cannot effectively cope with these stressors, the result can be varying degrees of suicidal behavior,’’ the report stated.
In 2000, Hayes held a workshop on suicide prevention for county jails in Pennsylvania. McNaughton said the workshop was set up through the National Institute of Corrections.
Now Pennsylvania’s local jails, like Blair, have a process in place to help high-risk inmates, even though it isn’t always successful.
At the state level, McNaughton said all prison staff are trained to recognize early signs of suicide risk and prevention.
Inmates at risk are placed under observation, and an after-care plan outlines what steps to take after an inmate is released from observation.
“Although unfortunate, there are times when inmates commit suicide despite our efforts,’’ McNaughton said.
When that happens, a review team determines what can be learned from the incident.
“The aim is to help all staff become more proficient at detecting preventable incidents before their occurrence,’’ she said.
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