Thread by @newsjunkyjimmy

'A Silent Epidemic' — In the past five years, self-harm incidents in Arizona state prisons have increased more than 360% kjzz.org/content/159215…

According to a data analysis conducted by KJZZ, the Arizona Department of Corrections is experiencing a years-long surge in incidents of self-harm among inmates

The number of Cuttings reported in Arizona prisons has increased from 181 in 2015 to 1,040 in 2019. Hangings have increased annually during the same time from 51 to 183. Blunt Force incidents increased from 124 in 2015 to 299 in 2019.

KJZZ has been seeking information from the Arizona Department of Corrections on this story since October 2018. They did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Centurion, the state’s contractor for prison health care, did not respond to a request for comment on this story.

For many years, Dustin Brislan says Arizona prison health care officials misdiagnosed him, improperly medicated him and left him alone to spiral into further depression.

When he would respond by cutting himself, Brislan says the Department of Corrections would discipline him.

Brislan’s arms are covered with scars. They are physical manifestations of his internal struggle with mental health issues.

“I’m a cutter. I cut veins and arteries — so I just start cutting,” Brislan said.

In October 2018, after a sharp increase in self-harm incidents, the Arizona Department of Corrections changed the way it reports on the incidents, breaking down the data into two categories: “Self-Injurious Behavior” and “Suicide Attempt.”

The Department said the distinction would allow it “to better understand these incidents and continue to refine prevention techniques.” But Brislan says after he would commit self-harm, ADC officials rarely talked to him about it.

"Mostly what they do is, without saying anything, they have my wound dressed and then they would haul me off to suicide watch,” Brislan said. “And I would sit on suicide watch for weeks or possibly even months.”

Brislan says many of the prison health care workers do not have the training to recognize the difference between a suicide attempt and an act of self-harm.

“Like with me, I’ve hit arteries and almost bled out and I wasn’t trying to kill myself,” Brislan said.

Lindsay Hayes, project director of the National Center On Institutions And Alternatives, specializes in suicide prevention in correctional facilities around the country:

Hayes says the dramatic increase in incidents of self-harm in Arizona prisons prompts several questions:

“Why are the numbers going up? Is it the way they’re defining it? Is there something else going on? Oftentimes . . . it’s because there is a lack of staffing,” Hayes said.

The number of inmate suicides reported by ADC has remained relatively flat in recent years averaging between six and eight annually

Since ADC starting keep track in October of 2018, suicide attempts have fluctuated between four or five each month to as many as 20.

The Arizona Department of Corrections also keeps a tally of what it calls “Accidental Deaths,” which have dramatically increased over the past four years. The Department did not answer specific questions about how these deaths are categorized and what makes them “accidental.”

.@ACLU National Prison Project Director @DavidCFathi called the increased self-harm numbers in Arizona prisons a “canary in the coal mine.”

“It's a sign that something is causing people to be in so much pain, to be so desperate, that they are trying to injure or kill themselves"

Fathi says there needs to be a proactive system in place in Arizona prisons to address what he called “a silent epidemic.”

“There have to be efforts to identify people who are at elevated risk of self-harm and suicide and that starts with intake,” Fathi said.

"And then you need to follow these people to monitor their state of mind and make sure they don’t end up in crisis where they are likely to injure or kill themselves.”

But Fathi says many prison systems, including Arizona’s, don’t invest enough in mental health resources.

Fathi says when mental health staff do follow up with inmates exhibiting self-destructive behavior, many of the encounters are as short as two minutes.

After becoming a named plaintiff in an Arizona prison health care lawsuit, Dustin Brislan says he’s been put on more effective medication and he’s received greater access to therapy. He has 1-on-1 counseling every week when most other inmates can only see a therapist once a month

Brislan hasn’t cut himself in more than a year, and he’s been inspired to channel his emotions into healthy outlets like drawing

Brislan says other inmates with mental health issues should have access to more frequent therapy as well:

“They build up all kinds of emotions and everything and they just sit on it for a whole month and a lot of times they’ll just go off or start cutting and whatnot,” he said.

Brislan says access to therapy has saved his life:

“Had I known what was wrong, when I first started exhibiting mental health symptoms, I don’t even think I’d be in prison,” Brislan said. “Had I got the treatment back then, I don’t think I’d be sitting here right now.”