NCJ Number
166564
Journal
Jail Suicide/Mental Health Update Volume: 6 Issue: 4 Dated: (Summer 1996) Pages: 1-5
Date Published
1996
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Even though numerous organizations have promulgated jail standards over the past 20 years, the infusion of suicide prevention into these standards is a fairly recent phenomenon.
Abstract
Standards published by the American Correctional Association (ACA) in 1981 include sections on the screening and supervision of suicidal inmates. The ACA standards were supplemented in 1984 to require a written suicide prevention and intervention program in jails that is reviewed and approved by a qualified medical or mental health professional. In 1989, the ACA standards were revised to require that the topics of suicide risk and suicide precautions be included in the training curriculum for new correctional officers and to change medical screening to medical, dental, and mental health screening. In 1991, the ACA standards were again revised to require that all special management inmates be personally observed by a correctional officer at least every 30 minutes on an irregular schedule and that inmates who are violent or mentally disordered or who demonstrate unusual behavior be observed more frequently. Standards of the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies are vague on suicide prevention, and only two standards are causally related to suicide prevention: (1) a written directive prescribes methods for handling, detaining, and segregating persons under the influence of alcohol or drugs or who are violent or self- destructive; and (2) a written directive requires 24-hour supervision of detainees. Jail standards of the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC) provide the most comprehensive and practical suicide prevention guidelines, and key components of suicide prevention programs under the NCCHC standards are listed. 25 reference notes