The trauma of a death by suicide in a correctional facility — seeing it or hearing it — affects inmates and staff alike, says Salt Lake County Undersheriff Jake Petersen.
“It’s devastating, first and foremost, for that individual’s families if they live, which they often do (if they jump),” he said in a recent House Political Subdivisions Committee meeting. “The trauma, emotional, physical and mental, lasts for the rest of their lives.”
Utah has one of the highest jail suicide rates in the country, said Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, citing a handout she gave her colleagues. The Salt Lake City Democrat is sponsoring legislation to combat those rates.
The bill, HB259, would provide grant funding for county jails to install suicide barriers, a kind of net blockade to prevent people from jumping off of a tier. The House this week passed the measure 71-1. Rep. Phil Lyman, R-Blanding, voted against it. The bill will move to the Senate for consideration.
In 2018, the Deseret News published an article detailing death by suicide as the leading cause of death in Utah jails. Since then, suicide has remained the leading cause of death, and further reports show over 50% of inmate deaths in Utah jails from 2013 to 2020 are due to suicide.
The report does not include those who survived attempts to take their own life.
Petersen said many of the deaths by suicide in Utah jails occur when someone jumps off a high ledge, and often there are many inmates and staff in a housing unit who see it happen.
Because of those staggering statistics and the lasting trauma witnesses have, Moss said she wanted to take a “first step” to addressing the high suicide and death rates in Utah jails. She and Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, passed a bill in 2018 that created the reporting requirements.
According to legislative financial analysts, implementing suicide barriers would cost about $140,600 in 2024. Not every jail in Utah needs these barriers because some are only one story.
Most people who are in jail are not convicted of a crime, Moss said.
“Eighty percent of the population of county jails are filled with people who have not been convicted,” Moss said. “They’ve been arrested and are awaiting trial, yet they’re dying.”
Most of suicides occur within the first two weeks of incarceration, some even on the first day, she said.
Suicide barriers, Moss said, “is one thing that will 100% save lives.”
Resources, she said, vary from jail to jail. Needs are different in every area and the bill provides a step in the right direction, Moss said. She said she hopes that there will be more bills confronting suicide in jails in the future.
Drug withdrawal, Moss said, is one of the several common dangers in county jails. Some inmates have to go through it without detox or help. That, she said, is also linked to suicide rates. She said she hopes to make resources available for Utah jails in the coming years.