The one thing that bails us out is to be constantly circulating in the unit. I work in a facility that has three pods of 10 rooms in a unit. If a resident is in a room, we check every 15 minutes at the minimum. On at least two occasions this saved a life and saved us from having our necks on the line too. Established rapport with residents are also useful. Just last week a resident informed us to check on another resident and essentially saved a life.

I work an adult joint and have not heard about MAYSI. Interesting. Who normally gives it to the juveniles?

There was just a 17 y.o. commit suicide at the local police station by hanging himself with a string from his shorts. He was on his way to our juvenile center. Upon intake we perform the MAYSI-2.

I don’t completely trust MAYSI’s but they are a good indicator of were a kid is at .I’ve found the best method of prevention is simply to ask the juvenile if he wants to kill him/herself.It sounds simple but it’s effective.I also frequently will write up a contract that the juvenile will not make an attempt to harm themselves while in custody.I give them a handshake and have them sign it and tell them how valuable their word is to me, It’s very effective.Obviously if your gut is telling you I dont trust him/her get them evaluated by a specialist.Juveniles who cut/scratch are not always suicidal but more often than not cut to feel/deal with problems.Again talk to them ask if they have been cutting for a while or recently and why they do it. Having understanding, knowledge and building a repoir are always the best tools to fighting suicide

I’d like to thank everyone for their input and thoughts. Not only do we conduct an intake assessment but we also conduct a MAYSI-2 within 2-4 hours of intake. Many times this self-reported MAYSI reveals information the intake assessment does not.

Suicide prevention measeures start at the assessment phase at intake from a transporting officer questionairre, to receiving pertinent information about a youth’s prior commitment adjustments (did s/he attempt suicide before in detention, at home, have people close to the youth committed suicide in the past), the youth’s current psychological well being. Second, policy that supports the mission of keeping these youth safe, a 1:1 policy, a step down policy…policy that supports safe practices (kids are not isolated during potentially suicidal times, staggered 15 minute interval checks, safe housing units, safe practices, etc.

As far as youth trying to get attention, my opinion is who cares? What will an impulsive kid do to get your attention? do you know how far? Even an attention seeking behavior can end disasterously, so be safe and always have a QMHP make the determination, that way you share the responsibility.

One thing that adults tend to forget is that juveniles are impulsive. They act without thinking things through, mainly due to their brains not being fully developed. It is difficult for them to process that situations will change under normal circumstances, add depression into the mix and the situation can indeed become dire (at least in their minds)

So much special attention for felons, where is the outcry for depressed people who are innocent? How about we try to solve that problem first.

Dear mamak;

It is true that most suicide attempts are simply an attention getting ploy. Yet some are genuinely considering self harm and some are set on it due to depression or other serious mental dysfunction. The real and most compelling problem I take with this issue is that most co’s and dentention officers are in fact insufficiently trained and unprepared to effective intervene.
Corrections management must devote more attention, traning and resources towards this issue. It is my experience and research that the majority of inmates and detainees do in fact, suffer from some varying degrees of mental illness. A new and more innovatively aggressive strategy must be developement and implemented.
However, it is always better to err on the side of caution and treat every threat of suicide or gesture as serious.
It must be noted that acting out suicidal behavior often ends with accidental success.
I hope this gives you some insight. It is my suggestion that if your facility is not supplying you with the need training on mental illness and suicide, you should seek it out yourself and research. Suicide Prevention and Crisis Intervention topics are great starting points.

I have been reading some of the comments posted, & I have only been an officer for about…4 months; this is the most gratifying & stressful job at the same time; My facility, in the unit that I am posted, I deal with alot of cutters, & what we call scratchers. how do you determine if someone is really going to kill themselves, or just lashing out for attention. Some officers tend to just to want to ignore the “student” thinking that maybe they are just looking for attention; But what if this particular student is really needing help? What then?

It is my experience that, for the most part, we juvenile corrections officers offer more in the way of actual “care” than the majority of our kids get at home. They have access to mental health professionals, religious services, drug and alcohol therapy, not to mention programming options and just regular healthy food and hygiene. These minors have very little impulse control and often harbor very real fears of gang conflicts awaiting them on the “outs”. Then of course there are the myriad of other emotional trials that any teenager faces, girlfriends breaking up with them, family problems, etc. We line staff don’t want to see anyone kill themselves, but if one is determined and ill enough, they will find a way despite our efforts to help.

Brittany611 you either A.) watch too many prison movies or B.) are yourself or are close to an ex-inmate.

I’ve never heard of an inmate killing themselves due to “mean correction officers”. It’s no secret that youths, especially troubled criminal youths, have a whole different way of thinking and outlook on things. They don’t think of the future too much, they see that their current situation (which they genreally put themselves in and blame somebody else for it.) looks bleak, and they make a decision to end things themselves. Most people who commit suicide have mental health issues to begin with, and once they decide they want to do it, you could give all the hugs and kisses you want, it’s not going to change things. So before you start pointing the finger at corrections officers, do some research.

That is why I think that mentor or more psychologist should be in our juvenile insututions because they can not take a lot of heat from the criminal justice system as “some” older people can.

Well me no matter what a person is going through i don’t think that they should committ suicide. They might be going through hell @ that moment but they need to understand that the days will ge better just give it time.And for all of the mean correction officers they really need to stop being mean to those kids because they don’t deserve it …..........(just think) if the kid kill theirself because you were being cruel to them…......(just think) if that was your kid