The Inmate Pulpit

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INMATE HANGS SELF WHILE PRISON STAFF SWITCHES OFF CAMERAS
By: JD Merrick Facebook: The Inmate Pulpit/Life Inside © 8/01/2023

The Rincon Unit at the Arizona State Prison Complex - Tucson is a facility that houses the most severely mentally ill inmates in the state of Arizona. One house in particular - Housing Unit 8 - houses inmates who are a risk to themselves by means of self-harm, like attempted su***de.

CONTINUOUS WATCH

HU8 staff have various levels of self-harm prevention. The first and perhaps most effective level of protection is placing inmates on a Continuous Watch. Inmates under a continuous watch are stripped of all clothing and personal property, to include shoelaces and sheets, which are regularly used by inmates to hang themselves. The inmates are given a thick security blanket to keep warm and for modesty reasons. At all times, an officer sits in front of the cell, watching the inmate and journaling his activity, like eating and sleeping. Usually, a Continuous Watch lasts 3 days, if the inmate expresses he is no longer willing to harm himself. Often the inmate will lie to a mental health official who must evaluate the inmate. If the inmate says he won't hurt himself, then the psychologist will release the inmate from a Continuous Watch for a step down 30 Minute Watch. On a 30 Minute Watch, no longer is there an officer sitting and watching the inmate constantly.

CONTINUOUS ELECTRONIC MONITORING

Inmates who are on a 30 Minute Watch are supposed to be monitored via security cameras in every cell by officers in the control room. Not to mention staff must conduct physical health and welfare walks to ensure each inmate is breathing and not in any sort of distress. Let policy the health and welfare walks must take place every 20-30 minutes. Also, each cell is shown on a large 55–65-inch television in the control room via security cameras.

A BROKEN PROCESS

If the inmate manages to keep from further talk or acts of self-harm during this period, or if he manages to convincingly lie to his mental health evaluators that he won’t harm himself, he can then return to general population without further psychiatric monitoring. The process from beginning to and generally lasts 3-4 days.

To be clear, this author is not a trained psychologist and does not pretend to assume he understands mental health and or treatments for mental health disorders. However, it is hard to comprehend how a mere 3–4-day watch satisfactorily clears an inmate of self-harm.

For starters, the conditions of HU8 are atrocious. There is constant screaming and banging all day and all night by inmates, making any amount of sleep or self-reflection possible. Adding to the incessant noise, there is also the constant exposure to offensive gases that staff must sometimes use on inmates, such as mace. The smell and irritants caused by the gases can impact several inmates in either direction. In other words, inmates would naturally lie and tell mental health staff whatever they want to hear in order to get out of HU8.

HU8 is not a perfect program. At the same time, it is unrealistic for prison officials to create or maintain a program that houses multiple inmates in a unit absent gases and loud sounds. The mental health staff who are assigned to cases inside HU8, in this author's humble opinion, are some of the best and most qualified to handle inmate cases. This being said, the staff are forced to work within the parameters set forth by prison administrators and courts.

It seems that the su***de watch program should be longer than a mere 3-4 days. It is true, however, the time can be extended by a psychologist if they are satisfied the inmate is no longer a risk to themselves or to others. This, however, does not take into account all those inmates who will say whatever the evaluators want to hear just so they can get out of the program.

UNTRAINED SECURITY STAFF

There is one more factor that, in this author's opinion, complicates the health of inmates within HU8 -- some security staff. There are some officers who work security inside of HU8 who should not be working there. They can often be heard calling an inmate’s name, threatening them, withholding showers and hygiene, etc. It is true that HU8 is a high-stress environment, but the officers cannot respond in such a way that can or will exacerbate an inmate’s mental health. The ADC, in conjunction with mental health staff, needs to ensure that all officers go through training programs before they are assigned to work in HU8.

INMATE HANGS SELF WHILE STAFF IGNORES CAMERAS

On the evening of July 31, 2023, the officers assigned to the HU8 Control Room did not monitor the cell cameras of the inmates on 30 Minute Watches as protocol dictates. Whenever staff fail to watch the cameras, they will "time out" and automatically shut off. According to preliminary reports amongst staff, the security cameras timed out on Monday evening. During this time, inmate John Doe took a bed sheet and successfully hanged himself. For the sake of the inmate's privacy and his family members, his name will remain anonymous.

Sadly, this is not the first su***de at the Arizona State Prison Complex - Tucson so far this year. According to one officer who wants to remain anonymous, this is the fifth inmate su***de this year that she knows about. Just prior to posting this article, this author spoke to multiple inmates who are housed in HU8, and all agreed that staff rarely watch the cameras in their cells. When asked how they knew this to be true, they all laughed and said, "Because we smoke and pass things all the time, and staff rarely say anything. If they saw us smoking, they would stop us." Smoking and passing is prohibited in HU8.