Dartmouth Jail Taking Steps to Help Reduce Suicide Rates

DARTMOUTH (WBSM) —The Bristol County House of Correction in Dartmouth is undergoing renovations to help reduce the risk of inmate suicide.

The Dartmouth jail system has had a suicide rate three times the national average. After taking office in January 2023, Sheriff Paul Heroux hired a suicide expert to review their policies and procedures.

According to Heroux, all 23 issues the expert targeted have been addressed or are in progress.

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One area of concern was how seven out of the last seven inmate suicides at the Dartmouth jail were all done using bunk beds. Using inmate labor, the bunks have now been made more suicide-resistant.

The facility will also focus on inmate placement along with the infrastructure process.

Sheriff Heroux told WBSM's Chris McCarthy on SouthCoast Now that the greatest risk of suicide comes the first 10 days an inmate is in jail.

"We can reduce the ways they can do it, screen them better, and we can watch them better," Heroux said.

"That's that third category, making sure we don't put people in single or double cells when they first get there but put them in a gymnasium setting," he said. "Those are some of the things we are doing to make things better."

How Heroux Is Shoring Up Inmate Cells

PROBLEM: The windows had vertical bars that could be used to wrap a cord around the base windowsill, and the inmate could then sit down and hang themselves.

SOLUTION: A stainless steel reinforced mesh screen keeps the inmate from wrapping a cord around the bar and hanging themselves.

PROBLEM: The old bunk beds had horizontal bars, i.e., ladder and other 45° angle bars. Inmates could use those to hang themselves.

SOLUTION: We redesigned the ladder and bed, eliminating all bars that could be used to hang oneself.

The total cost of materials to retrofit each bunk bed or window is about $15.

The individuals doing the welding in the cells are inmates. They are part of the expanded vocational welding program, where they are taught a marketable skill. Part of their discharge planning is to get the inmate lined up with an employer before release.