Curb jail suicides: TX lawmakers look to culture change

[emilynghiem]

Well, this is as close as I may see to my premise
that shifting the millions spent on prisons could pay for preventative health care instead:

Lawmakers look to culture change, not more laws, to curb jail suicides

Lawmakers look to culture change, not more laws, to curb jail suicides
Legislators push for culture shift, not more laws

The inquiry and a separate one underway in the Texas House were launched in response to the self-inflicted hanging death in July of community activist Sandra Bland, 28, in the Waller County Jail.

"We can change all the forms we want, and we can pass all the new laws we want, but if we don't change the attitude and culture of the jail system, then we will still have the same problem," said Committee Chairman John Whitmire, D-Houston. "Our attitude should be to treat mental-health inmates like we would want our relatives to be treated. And we need to change the culture in communities so that all the local elected officials who are part of this system are talking, working together to get the best outcomes."

HOUSTON POLITICS & POLICY

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  Lawmakers look to culture change, not more laws, to curb jail

Sen. Charles Perry, a Republican from Lubbock where local officials 20 years ago successfully implemented a program to get suicidal and mentally troubled inmates out of the local jail, echoed Whitmire: "More rules may not be the answer. If we can treat many of these people on the front end, before they end up in a jail, it would make more sense."

In fact, state statistics show the cost of housing inmates with serious mental-health issues in local jails across Texas likely totals about $1 million a day.

At that rate, said Sen. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, Texas will spend the additional $32 million it allocated for mental-health diversion programs in about one month.

"There are millions and millions of dollars that could be saved by addressing these mental-health issues for low-level offenders someplace other than in a jail," he said.

 

[OKTexas]

Really I don't see the big deal here. Of the multiple millions that go through the various jails we average 25 suicides a year. Is that really that much higher than the general population?

 

[emilynghiem]

Really I don't see the big deal here. Of the multiple millions that go through the various jails we average 25 suicides a year. Is that really that much higher than the general population?

Well if you are going for 0 suicides and 100% prevention, neither context is acceptable.
And the policing/jail process could be adapted to serve as screening for mentally imbalanced/at risk people.
More lives could be saved if we used these resources and facilities for earlier intervention and prevention.

 

[OKTexas]

Really I don't see the big deal here. Of the multiple millions that go through the various jails we average 25 suicides a year. Is that really that much higher than the general population?

Well if you are going for 0 suicides and 100% prevention, neither context is acceptable.
And the policing/jail process could be adapted to serve as screening for mentally imbalanced/at risk people.
More lives could be saved if we used these resources and facilities for earlier intervention and prevention.

Right, and if no one drives on the roads we could save tens of thousands of lives a year, the real question is if the trade off is worth it? Every criminal is screwed up in the head to one degree or another, the ones that off themselves have a 0% recidivism rate. Sorry, I just have no sympathy for criminals.