‘A Recipe For Hopelessness’ — LA Jails Saw Largest Spike In Suicides In Nearly A Decade

In 2021, the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department’s downtown jail complex saw its deadliest year for in-custody suicides in nearly a decade.

The family members of two individuals who died by suicide in L.A. jails that year spoke with LAist for this story. Their cases reveal serious concerns about the ability of the overcrowded jail system to care for people who are in severe distress and high risk for suicide.

“Jail is not the answer,” said Marlene Carrillo, a widow and mother of five whose husband took his own life at Men’s Central Jail in 2021. “It doesn’t help them… just throwing them in jail and ignoring the fact that they’re struggling within their own mind.”

According to L.A. County Medical Examiner-Coroner data, there were a total of eight in-custody suicide deaths at Men’s Central Jail (MCJ) and Twin Towers Correctional Facility (TTCF) in 2021, compared with three a year prior and the most suicide deaths at those facilities since 2013, when there was also eight. In the previous decade, the two facilities saw an average of roughly three suicide deaths a year.

The in-custody suicide death data for 2022 is incomplete.

A ‘human rights crisis’

The spike in suicide deaths come at a time when the L.A. County Jail system is plagued by a number of issues: Facilities are overcrowded, jail officials are struggling to maintain a mental health workforce and the jails are out of compliance with requirements mandated by federal…