State facing crisis in prison suicides
California’s vast prison system has a deadly problem that it needs to fix. Inmates are killing themselves at a surging rate — higher than the rest of the country.
After an initial Chronicle investigation turned up the alarming trend, prison chief Ralph Diaz is acknowledging that the numbers are “far too high” and California’s lockups are gripped by “an inmate suicide crisis.”
His blunt words are overdue. The inescapable truth is that the state system has known about the problem and taken only partial and incomplete steps to address it. Inmate health care, especially mental health treatment, has long lagged behind legal directives for improvement.
A new state report is finally shedding light on the problem. Compared with the national average of state and federal prisons, California has a higher rate of suicides. A total of 34 inmates killed themselves last year. There have been four straight years of climbing suicide totals. Until now, that alarming fact had only partially been disclosed, effectively muzzling the issue from public view.
The prison chief ’s admission should put the deaths squarely before state authorities, from the governor on down. Guards need to be more watchful, medical care needs improvement and telltale patterns of inmate behavior needs to be quickly spotted. But little of this is happening, despite consistent reports of trouble from outside experts monitoring health care.
The public’s awareness — and the lack of official attention — was piqued by the New York federal prison suicide of wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein, accused of multiple sex crimes. His death underscored the shortcomings of a system that ignored warning signs and failed to monitor his condition.
But that single fatality is dwarfed by California’s inmate population, where some 38,000 inmates have sought mental health help. This state badly needs to examine where it’s failing and why other lockups have markedly lower death totals.
There is nothing sudden about this predicament. Since 1995 California has been on notice, via a federal court case upheld by the Supreme Court, that its health care was dangerously inadequate. Though prison authorities contend conditions have improved, the rising curve of inmate suicides shows otherwise.
By admitting the seriousness of the problem, Diaz is suggesting changes will be made. That’s encouraging, but results will be the real measure of his resolve.