DAYTON, Ohio, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- Increased prison suicides in Iowa and Ohio are prompting correctional facility administrators in those states to revamp their suicide-prevention policies.
Five inmates in Iowa have killed themselves in the past two years and nine have done the same in Ohio this year alone, more than double the number for 2003, USA Today reported.
"The trend seems to be that these spikes happen periodically. The number of suicides raises our awareness. But the more important second step is looking at each and every one of them, making the determination if they were preventable or not, and if they were preventable, what are the corrective actions," said Lindsay Hayes, project director for the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives and an expert on prison suicides who is consulting with Ohio prison administrators.
While the overall prison suicide rate has declined over the past 20 years, it remains the leading cause of death in local jails and the No. 3 cause of death in state and federal prisons.
