QUESTION
What measures is the Department of Correction (DOC) implementing to prevent deaths in custody?
3:50:11
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3 min
The Department of Correction (DOC) outlines numerous actions and training initiatives aimed at preventing future deaths in custody.
- DOC has increased training for officers in using NARCAN and CPR.
- A joint action review process is in place for examining each death in custody and identifying any issues to address.
- A suicide prevention committee has been created to specifically target and prevent suicides.
- Collaboration with Correctional Health Services (CHS) involves regular assessments and the implementation of preventative measures.
- Efforts are recognized by experts and federal monitors as making significant progress in addressing the issue.
Sandy Nurse
3:50:11
So I wanna talk a little bit about death in custody.
3:50:16
9 people died in 2023 while in DOC custody.
3:50:20
And according to reports produced by the board of correction, these individuals were often left unsupervised in the hours before their deaths, and they were often not taken to scheduled medical appointments by DOC officers.
3:50:33
How have the recommendations from the board of correction been received by the department and what actions are being taken to prevent these types of incidents in the future?
Lynelle Maginley-Liddie
3:50:44
So every death in custody is a tragedy, and we take it very seriously.
3:50:51
I can tell you that the department has done a lot in terms of training officers with respect to utilizing NARCAN.
3:51:00
As of March 5th, our training numbers for officers 91%.
3:51:05
We're also utilizing making sure people are trained with CPR training.
3:51:10
And also, we're constantly having a conversation also with our partners at CHS.
3:51:17
Following every death in custody, there's a joint review, joint action review, where we look at the incident and we determine if there are any sort of gaps or inefficiencies or things that we need to address so that it doesn't happen going forward.
3:51:31
In addition, we've We've implemented a suicide prevention committee, and DC Saunders can talk a little bit more about that on all the work that we've been doing.
3:51:43
Because it's it's something that we also have provided to the federal monitor.
3:51:48
And we just got recently got a report from one of our one of the experts who've been working with us through this process, and it was pretty he acknowledged that we've made a lot of strides in this in this in this process.
James Saunders
3:52:04
Thank you for the question.
3:52:05
James Saunders, Deputy Commissioner.
3:52:07
So with respect to deaths in custody and working closely with our colleagues in CHS as the commissioner stated after every in custody death there is a joint assessment review, 2 days following the death, 7 days following the death, and 30 days following that that death.
3:52:25
And so the purpose of that is to determine whether or not there's any immediate medium range or long range measures that can be taken to remediate any of the causes surrounding the deaths.
3:52:39
Last year, we experienced 8 deaths, 2 of those redeemed by the office of the chief medical examiner to be suicide.
3:52:46
We were very concerned with that, obviously, with And so we've implemented a suicide prevention task force.
3:52:53
That task force is charged with looking at every suicide that is committed.
3:52:58
We look at the data.
3:53:00
We look at the number of individuals who are placed on suicide watch and on that committee.
3:53:05
We have senior leadership on the mental health side from CHS as well as senior leadership on the operations side.
3:53:12
So there's a lot more collaborations surrounding controls that can be put in place to prevent suicides.
Sandy Nurse
3:53:19
Okay.
3:53:20
Thank you for that.