By Lori Whitten, Staff Writer, RTI International, Rockville, MD

“A suicide in a correctional facility is just like one anywhere else — a terrible human tragedy that has massive reverberations across many people,” says James L. Knoll IV, M.D. Those reverberations negatively affect the inmate’s family, of course, but they also have a tremendous impact on correctional staff and administration, who may also find themselves in legal jeopardy: families often litigate, alleging negligence on the part of mental health staff. Dr. Knoll, a psychiatrist who also serves as an expert in legal cases, says that good suicide risk assessment is a central component to providing the required standard of care,
decreasing inmate suicides, and reducing professional liability.

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