ROCKINGHAM, N.C. — The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is looking into the suicide death of an inmate Tuesday at the Rockingham County Jail in Reidsville. It's the fourth suicide in fourteen months at the facility.
"I personally talked with the family of the gentleman who passed away (Tuesday) and it is tragic, it’s tragic," said Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page. "But I am going to rest assured that I can do everything I can to make sure that we are doing what we are supposed to protect the inmate population."
The inmate was found inside his cell early Tuesday morning. He was booked into the jail early Monday. Page said the involvement of N.C. SBI is a standard protocol. The SBI has not released the name of the inmate.
Three other inmates died by suicide at the facility in February 2021. Those deaths were the first suicides at the jail in a decade.
"(There are) a lot of people coming to (the) facility. When you screen them, whether for medical or mental health issues or addiction issues sometimes they don’t tell you," Page said. "You only know what you know. You can’t read people's minds. I don’t have a crystal ball to know who’s coming to my jail and what their issues are. All we can do is ask."
Officials with Disability Rights North Carolina said more can be done across the state to prevent deaths in jails and prisons.
"What we also see with suicides that occur very quickly after the person is booked, over the years, there have been several that really could’ve been avoided, a number that could’ve been avoided, if proper supervision had been done," said Luke Wollard, a staff attorney with Disability Rights North Carolina.
The organization said 2020 was the deadliest year in state jails and prisons since they started keeping track around 2016.
"It can be a sort of common myth, even among correctional officers sometimes, that if a person really wants to self-harm or commit suicide that’s inevitable and there’s nothing they can do. But looking at the details of these deaths, that’s very much not the case," Wollard said. "Getting a person proper screening, getting the proper care, and supervising them adequately can, at least we feel, really decrease the number of suicides and medical emergency deaths in these jails."
Page said the jail does do mental health screenings and since the three suicides in 2021, they implemented a new electronic checking system for the inmates. He also received grant funding to hire two behavioral health clinicians.
"People with addiction need that help, mental health support, we want to connect them to services before they get to our jail," Page said.
Page said he is also discussing bringing in medication-assisted treatment for those battling addiction in prison, but that would take more funding.
Wollard said there needs to be more community resources to keep people with mental health and substance abuse issues out of jails and in treatment. This includes diversion programs where social workers respond to mental health crisis calls, not the police. He also said jails and prisons need to have suicide prevention programs in place.
"So not just screening right when they come in, when they’re having their first interaction, but if they end up staying there for pre-trial, for whatever reason, check-ins with that person to identify suicide risk, really making sure that they are being placed on the right type of watch," Wollard said.
Disability Rights North Carolina said North Carolina jails and prisons have higher suicide rates than both the national general population and incarcerated population.