Garner Prison—

DOC Seeks To Prevent Inmate Suicides

By Andrew Gorosko

The state Department of Correction (DOC) strives to prevent its inmates from killing themselves, but unfortunately occasionally a prisoner determined to commit suicide will find a way to do so, according to the warden of Garner Correctional Institution.

Garner Warden James Dzurenda told members of the Public Safety Committee for Garner Correctional Institution on March 3 that the DOC has procedures in place that seek to prevent inmate suicides, but sometimes the self-inflicted deaths occur at the 245,000-square-foot high-security prison on Nunnawauk Road.

The panel meets quarterly to discuss public safety issues stemming from the prison’s presence.

On February 3, a Garner inmate died after he asphyxiated himself in the prison on February 1. It was the fourth inmate suicide by asphyxiation that had occurred at Garner since last May.

Warden Dzurenda noted that all four suicides came as a result of inmates hanging themselves by some means. Also, all of those inmates had been approved to live in regular housing units inside the prison, he noted.

The DOC strives to have its inmates remain safe, he said. However, when a suicide occurs, the state police’s major crime squad is called to the prison for a thorough investigation, he said. Also, local police are notified of the situation, the warden added.

Committee member Kevin Cragin asked why inmates are allowed to have any access to the means by which they can kill themselves.

Warden Dzurenda responded that inmates determined to commit suicide will find a way to do so, such as by hanging. The DOC is not allowed to remove clothing, sheets, and towels from inmates, he said.

In special cases, when inmates are considered a suicide risk, they may be closely watched and placed in special garments considered to be less likely to be used as a means of suicide.

Warden Dzurenda said that DOC policy requires that each inmate in the prison be observed at least once every 15 minutes by a correction officer. “We can’t prevent everything…We can’t predict everything,” he added.

An inmate who is a suicide risk would not inform correction officers of that risk, the warden said.

Prisoners who are considered to be a suicide risk are watched more closely than are other inmates, receiving one-on-one monitoring under which they are constantly watched.

DOC spokesman Brian Garnett has said that prison staff members strive to keep inmates from harming themselves and thus are able to prevent many inmate suicides from occurring.

“Our staff are highly trained to be very vigilant about the potential for self-harm” by prison inmates, he has said. After suicides occur at the prison, the circumstances of the incident are thoroughly investigated in seeking to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future, according to Mr Garnett.

Warden Dzurenda told committee members on March 3 that Garner held 526 male inmates on that day. Of that number, 294 inmates were designated as mental health inmates, he said.   

Statistically, about 56 percent of the inmates in Garner on that day were mental health prisoners, reflecting a much lower percentage of mental health inmates there than in the past.

The warden said the number of mental health inmates in Garner is decreasing as the DOC seeks have more inmates live in conventional prison settings.