Suicide rate soaring in N.Y. prisons

The suicide rate in New York State’s prison system last year rose to its highest level in nearly a decade, with 18 inmates taking their own lives, the Daily News has learned.

It was the most suicides since 2010, when 20 people killed themselves behind bars. The number of incarcerated New Yorkers has dropped by more than 10,000 since 2010, meaning the rate of suicide last year was actually higher than it was in 2010.

The rate was about 39 per 100,000 last year compared with 34.5 in 2010, the data showed.

The suicide rate was even higher among inmates in solitary confinement. Out of the 70 people who died by their own hand in the state prison system between 2015 and 2019, at least 20, or 29%, were in solitary, according to the data obtained by the #HALTsolitary campaign in a Freedom of Information Law request.

In 2019 alone, six of the 18 suicides, 33%, occurred in solitary confinement. The rate was 201 per 100,000 inmates.

“The data demonstrates that suicides occur in solitary confinement at an unacceptably high rate, much higher than the rate in the rest of the prison population,” wrote advocates for the #HALTsolitary campaign.

Another 688 suicide attempts were documented between 2015 and 2019, according to the data. That number represents a suicide attempt on average every two days.

The Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“These numbers demand immediate and drastic change in [Corrections] policies and practices in relation to solitary confinement,” the #HALTsolitary campaign wrote.

The group called on the state Legislature to enact the Halt Solitary act. The bill would limit the time incarcerated New Yorkers can spend in solitary confinement and would create alternative therapeutic and rehabilitative confinement options.