More than half of the deaths of inmates in the federal prison system were caused by suicide from 2014 and 2021, the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General found in a report released Thursday.
There are about 155,000 inmates in 194 Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) facilities. Michael Horowitz, the inspector general, examined 344 deaths across the facilities during an eight-year span and found that 187 of them were suicides. The report “found that a combination of recurring policy violations and operational failures contributed to inmate suicides.”
Homicides followed death by suicide, accounting for 89 deaths, and accidents were blamed in 56 deaths. The causes remained unknown in 12 deaths.
Hanging, drug overdoses and blunt force trauma were the leading causes of death, the report found.
“We also found that some institution staff failed to coordinate efforts across departments to provide necessary treatment or follow-up with inmates in distress and that staff did not sufficiently conduct required rounds or counts in over a third of the inmate suicides in our scope,” the report said.
The report highlights that suicide is still a common occurrence behind bars despite it being preventable with the right measures, HuffPost previously reported.
It contained 12 recommendations to remedy the deaths of inmates behind bars — including, in part, fulfilling required mock suicide drills, implementing better mental health care designations and ensuring that staff are equipped to avert drug overdoses or suicide attempts. The Federal Bureau of Prisons agreed to each of the recommendations in the report.
“It is deeply disturbing that today’s report found that the majority of BOP’s non-medical deaths in custody could have been prevented or mitigated by greater compliance with BOP policy, better staffing, and increased mental health and substance abuse treatment,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement. “Accountability across the Bureau is necessary and long overdue.”
Horowitz and BOP Director Collette Peters are expected to appear at a Feb. 28 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the issue, NPR reported.
If you or someone you know needs help, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org for mental health support. Additionally, you can find local mental health and crisis resources at dontcallthepolice.com. Outside of the U.S., please visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention.