OCA Webinar Examines Suicide Prevention

By Jeannelle Ferreira

In September, approximately 200 corrections professionals took part in a webinar presentation from ACA’s Online Corrections Academy (OCA). Judy Cox, MA, president of JFC Consulting, gave an interactive presentation on suicide prevention strategies for corrections professionals. With up-to-date statistics and practical tips, Cox examined a public health approach to suicide prevention and the care of those at highest risk of completing suicidal acts.

Twenty-five years ago, suicide was the leading cause of jail inmate deaths. In modern jails, incarcerated individuals are 64 percent less likely to successfully complete a suicidal act (resulting in the death of an individual while in custody). The completed suicide rate in local jails was 47 per 100,000 in 2003, according to Cox, whose presentation drew in part from a recent Bureau of Justice Statistics’ report. Prison suicide rates decreased from 34 per 100,000 in 1983 to 14 per 100,000 in 2003.

Note: Local jail inmate mortality rates are based on average daily population for each year.  Data on deaths for 1983-99 are from the Census of Jails; data from 2000-03 are from the Deaths in Custody Reporting Program (DCRP). State prisoner mortality rates for 1980-2000 are based on death counts of sentenced prisoners and the December 31 jurisdiction population as collected in the National Prisoner Statistics (NPS) program. Rates for 2001-03 are based on prisoner death counts from the Deaths in Custody Reporting Program and the NPS June 30 custody population count. Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics.

With the advent of universal screening for the warning signs of suicidal ideation and the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2000, the number of suicides committed in custody has decreased even as incarcerated populations grow. When a suicide does happen in a correctional setting, however, difficult questions arise. For the corrections professionals on whose watch the suicide occurred, the costs are never simply economic. They may ask how and why the suicide could have happened, and whether they could have done something to prevent it. Cox’s webinar detailed risk factors present in two cases of inmate suicide in order to help correctional staff recognize warning signs and act on them in facility-specific ways. One example presented the completion of a suicidal act by a man recently incarcerated — half of jail suicides occur during the first few weeks of confinement — along with strategies that were used, and solutions that could have been implemented, by correctional facility staff during intake.

Training is key to improving outcomes in situations like these. Effective instruction in detecting and curtailing inmates’ suicidal impulses can increase staff and offender safety, decrease an institution’s liability, and preserve morale. The webinar was presented as a sample course offering from OCA. OCA training can help assure compliance with ACA standards, and online training is one way to help budget-conscious departments do more with less. “We understand corrections,” said Diane Geiman, OCA manager. “We know the field, the situations [you] deal with. That’s part of the philosophy behind our services.” With online training, more staff can be trained efficiently, using fewer resources. And a recent study by the U.S. Department of Education showed that students who took all or part of their class online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through traditional face-to-face instruction.

ACA’s online training program is unlike any other. What sets OCA apart is the strength of ACA’s partnership with Essential Learning, the leader in e-learning solutions, and the cost-effectiveness of its curriculum. OCA offers web-based training to meet the training needs and requirements for staff at all levels, including health care professionals. Courses can be used for accreditation, certification or professional growth. Because there is no limit to the number of participants or locations for each course, agencies and facilities can save time and cut travel costs. Training is self-paced and not instructor-based, so staff can partake in training when it is convenient for them. Agencies can develop and upload their own courses, policies, and procedures to be used in tandem with OCA, and monitor staff progress, access reports, and maintain documentation using one centralized web-based system. Please visit OCA at www.aca.org/onlinecorrections and schedule a free demo by contacting Diane Geiman, OCA manager, at dianeg@aca.org or (703) 224-0167.

Jeannelle Ferreira is associate editor in ACA’s Communications and Publications Department. 

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