Ombuds investigation shows suicide warning signs missed at Washington State prisons
Sydney Kurle | May 10, 2021
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This report is the continuation of a 2019 investigation, which showed the Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC) had a 250% increase in suicides from 2018 to 2019. In 2019, five of the 37 deaths were suicide, whereas suicide was involved in only two of the 37 deaths in 2018.
Although the number of suicide deaths in 2020 returned to the DOC’s average baseline of two suicide deaths per year, the OCO “proceeded with an investigation into both cases to determine whether there were findings similar to those put forth in the prior report which potentially contributed to these two deaths.”