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Expert: Bexar jail exhibits 'unexplained tolerance for potentially suicidal behavior'

According to Greg Harman at the San Antonio Current's QueBlog ("Heroin bust at jail a distraction from blistering suicide review," June 11), the recent arrest of a Bexar County jail guard for smuggling drugs into the jail is overshadowing more serious, chronic concerns about the jail's treatment of suicidal inmates:Nationally recognized suicide-prevention expert Lindsey Hayes delivered his report to Sheriff Amadeo Ortiz back on April 8. It was provided to the Current this week under an Open Records request.Hayes opens his report by crediting the jail staff for taking the proactive approach of contacting him after a rash of suicides began to build at the facility in 2009. Ultimately, six inmates in the jail system, one of whom had been outsourced to Crystal City because of intense overcrowding, hung themselves in a 10-month period last year, about three times the national average for county lock-ups...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on June 12, 2010 (boomark / email).