National Alliance on Mental Illness
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Prison Suicide Crisis
December 14, 2007
The Boston Globe recently featured a three-part series investigating the suicide crisis in Massachusetts state prisons, noting the suicide rate is triple the rate in other states. Nearly all of the suicide victims had a history of mental health issues or drug abuse and in many cases inmates died by suicide when they were known to be at risk.
A system strains, and inmates die
Left in uncertain hands, a haunted life ends tragically
Guards, inmates a volatile dynamic