Inmate Billy Adams committed suicide.
Inmate Billy Adams committed suicide.
WXYZ reporter Ross Jones looks at two of the largest jails in the country -- Cook County Jail in Illinois and New York City Department of Corrections -- and finds both reported zero suicides since April 2016, compared to eight at the Wayne County Jail during the same period.
“That’s very, very, very high,” says Margo Schlanger, a law professor at the University of Michigan and an expert in jail and prison reform. “That should be ringing alarm bells all over.”
Jones reports:
The surge comes at a time when the county struggles to fill almost 200 deputy positions, jail facilities fall into further disrepair and plans for a new jail remain stalled.
“You don’t go to jail to get killed,” said Sallie Schultz, whose son Billy Adams took his own life this year while in jail for a probation violation. “You’re supposed to be safe in jail.”
Like most of the 8 inmate suicides, Adams hung himself inside a jail cell. He spent 10 days in a hospital, being kept alive by a ventilator before his family decided to take him off of life support.
