Sandra Bland was found hanging in her cell, three days after she was violently stopped for failing to signal a lane change in Waller County, Texas.

The next day, 18-year-old Kindra Chapman committed suicide in an Alabama prison. She was arrested for stealing a cell phone .


Joyce Curnell was arrested on shoplifting charges and found dead in her cell on July 24.

On July 26, officers found Ralkina Jones dead in the Cleveland Heights City Jail, two days after she was arrested for a physical dispute with her husband. She was brought to a medical facility after a staff member observed Jones was lethargic — then returned to the jail. Prison officials say they conducted several check ups on the night she returned, but found her unresponsive around 7:30 the next morning


Raynetta Turner was arrested and locked in a holding cell Saturday afternoon on shoplifting charges. Some time after her arrest, Turner informed Westchester County police that she had numerous medical problems, and was eventually brought to Montefiore-Mount Vernon Hospital Sunday evening. She returned to the holding cell briefly that night, before she was taken for fingerprinting at 2 a.m. She was found dead 12 hours later.



http://thinkprogress.org/justice/201...ince-mid-july/


wow.... this is scary!

Why are white people doing this? Just leave my people alone

Originally posted by citizen We need to know how many white people were found dead in their cells during the same time period, in order to put forward the argument that this is down to racism. If 5 black people were found dead in their cells, but 10 white people were found dead in the same time period, then racism can not be blamed. The point is, we need all the details in order to have an opinion on this story. At the moment all we have is a half-story and no conclusion.

I see a pattern

We ain't safe!

The 'Shock Of Confinement'

Article

The grim reality is that jails have high suicide rates — higher than prisons. Part of the reason, says corrections expert and consultant Steve J. Martin, is what he calls the "shock of confinement." Jails often house people who've never been in serious legal trouble before, and it can have a traumatic effect on them.

About 1,000 people die in American jails every year and about a third of those are suicides. Martin says prison administrators have the advantage of getting detailed information about the inmates they receive. But jails do not.

Mental health screening is a given these days, even in tiny jails. But he says jailers can't rely just on those questionnaires. Too often, when a new inmate answers the question about feeling suicidal with a "No," Hayes says the jailers figure they can stop paying attention to his mental health. "Simply because someone answers 'No' right now doesn't mean in the next five minutes, if they don't get through to their loved one or if their loved one doesn't come out and bail them out, that answer might change. And if you ask me that again 15 minutes after my phone call, I might become suicidal," he says. Even though the suicide rate inside jails has improved a lot, he says people should still keep in mind that it's still three times worse than on the outside.