The summer before, it looked that James Rider was turning a turn.

The 31-year-old resident of Wasilla was a long-term sufferer with addiction issues, eventually accumulating an insignificant criminal record, hindering a construction career.

He was finally making steps to tackle his substance abuse issues and his family was aware that the change was coming.

In August, he was taken into the Palmer jail for charges of trespassing, which included the removal of the ankle monitor. A few days later his body was found dead.

The older brother of Rider, Mike Cox, is still trying to determine the events that transpired. The moment Rider was taken to Mat-Su Pretrial Facility, he declared his feelings of hopelessness and was put on suicide prevention. His brother claims that the man was stripped of his clothes and placed inside an anti-suicide smock the padded cell.

In a phone conversation with the jailhouse, Rider told his brother that he was embarrassed by the incident. He pledged to never talk about feelings of suicide to the jail personnel in the future.

After a couple of days, Rider was removed from suicide precautions and for reasons his family isn’t sure of was placed in an isolation cell. He was hanged.

In 2022, an all-time record 18 people died being held in the custody in the Alaska Department of Corrections.

Seven of the deaths, roughly 40 percent, were suicides According to the agency. This is also an all-time high.

So far, very little is known publicly about the circumstances surrounding the deaths and the events preceding them.

Corrections officials have repeatedly denied that they could release information about deaths of individuals due to privacy laws governing medical information.

The analysis of an article in the Anchorage Daily News shines fresh information on deaths occurring in custody in Alaska. The Daily News obtained and read Alaska State Troopers investigation reports and medical examiner’s records and also spoke to families, advocates , and prison officials.

The analysis of deaths occurring in custody indicates that, of the seven suicides

Two of them occurred in residential units where prisoners with mental health issues are kept for surveillance.

Two persons committed suicide during solitary confinement “segregation” (or “special control” units.

* In one instance an unidentified young woman’s suicide was left unnoticed by guards for three hours in spite of seven “wellness check-ups” in her cell. She was in an institution that is designed to provide hospital-level of psychiatric treatment.

Two men who had recently been placed on suicide watch had to be placed in cells on their own in a situation that the department’s chief of mental health advises isn’t advised. A man on the watch had recently been removed of suicide watch by psychiatrist.

The trooper’s investigation reports expose the causes of deaths that are classified to be “natural.” They include five deaths resulting from terminal illness, one man who suffered from COVID-19-related pneumonia and another man who passed away from seizures. In addition, the Alaska Department of Public Safety did not release incident reports for six of the cases in cases that have not been completed.

The suicides erupted at an alarming rate: In just June four people took their deaths in four prisons, ranging from Nome through Seward up to Eagle River to Anchorage. One death per week. Each of the suicides included people being held in pretrial detention and were suspects of crimes for which they hadn’t yet been found guilty.

The sheer volume death is alarming. A.E. Daniel who is a Missouri-based psychiatrist for forensics who has written a number of books about suicide prevention in prisons. “It will allow the managers to examine their program and determine the areas where they could have improved.”

Officials from The Department of Corrections say they are looking at Alaska’s policies regarding suicide prevention. However, the review hasn’t found any commonality, said Adam Rutherford, acting director of the Division of Health and Rehabilitation Services.

“I wish I could tell you that it was possible,” he said. “Because … then you can fix the problem and stop the issue from occurring once more.”

The Department of Corrections had an independent investigative team that conducted investigations into suicides, and even suicides, from the year 2016 until 2018. The newly appointed commissioner Nancy Dahlstrom, eliminated the unitearly during her term following the election of Governor. Mike Dunleavy, citing cost savings.

An increase in suicides across the nation in correctional facilities

Experts believe that prisons are bound by an obligation of medical, legal and moral responsibility to provide both mental and physical healthcare to those in prison and to prevent suicides.

But suicide rates in prisons is becoming a growing national problem.

Self-inflicted deaths are the most common reason for deaths in jails across the country in the study conducted from Florida Atlantic University which found that the rate was three times higher than the general population.

Additionally, deaths of those in prison have been increasing in recent years and have risen sharply across the nation as per data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Suicide rates among those who are incarcerated have increasedduring the epidemic.

The reasons for this aren’t quite evident, according to Daniel.

“One of the causes could be the spread of the virus, that led to a significant amount of isolation” in prisons and jails and quarantine regulations that limit visits, contact as well as the types of therapy and classes that are available, he added.

The tight labour market also resulted in shortages in staff for correctional personnel who supervise the inmates.

Correctional systems can and must prevent suicides by implementing policies and training, Daniel said. The most frequent errors that corrections authorities make are due to a lack in screening and identifying suicide risks, as well as of insufficient surveillance.

The first thing to note is that, Daniel said, it’s vital that mental health professionals check prisoners for suicidal risks in particular in the first few days in the jail. Anyone who is drunk or are coming off of drugs are especially at risk.

A majority of Alaska’s suicides committed in-custody deaths in 2022 were those who were only incarcerated for only for a short period of time while waiting for trials. A few were detoxing from drugs or were suffering from addiction according to Megan Edge of the ACLU of Alaska who has spoken to the families of a few of the people who passed away. About 65% of Alaska’s total inmate population suffers from an illness that can be diagnosed as mental as per corrections officials.

“Those are really complex issues to confront and be in an unsettling situation, even if they’re unable to receive the help they require,” Edge said.

James Rider

Rider was an “typical Valley kid” who was raised in a sprawling Houston family home, and had two brothers, his brother told. His family also had the privilege of at King Salmon and Naknek, fishing commercially at Bristol Bay. When he was mature, the man worked jobs painting barges, washing boats, constructing and fixing motors. He was a hunter and fish as well as ride four-wheelers. He had three children, and a fiancée.

He was the infant to the clan, a charming person who was a joker and loved being noticed as his brother described.

“He was hilarious,” Cox said. “He created situations to be chuckled about.”

On August. 30th, Rider was arrested by troopers for breaking into his home as well as cut off an ankle-monitor, and breaking the conditions of his release in a different incident. Cox claimed Rider was aware of an outstanding warrant, and cut off the ankle monitor on the basis that he would go to jail.

“He was looking to enter and begin serving the time to fulfill his warrant,” Cox said.

He’d been in jail previously, for minor property offenses. However, once he got to Mat-Su Pretrial, he learned that he was facing serious charges of felony which could mean many years in prison. Devastated, he informed the jail officials that he was suicidal, and was placed being monitored for suicide.

“He claimed it was utterly painful to strip naked and confined to an enclosed room” Cox said. “He informed me on the phone that he’d never speak to these correctional officers concerning becoming suicidal following the way he was treated.”

In violation of the law the man was moved into a room with his roommates. Then , on September. 5 Rider was moved to a cell located in the “Charlie Dorm,” where he was isolated. The family isn’t quite sure what the reason is, as it’s not clear why — the Palmer Jail is notoriously overcrowded. Charlie Mod is classified as a “segregation facility,” but it’s not certain what the reason is. Rider was placed in solitary and punitive confinement or asked to be put in a cell on his own.

On the day of the incident around 6.28 p.m. Guards received an alert of the possibility of a “possible suicide” as per the State Medical Examiner’s Office investigator report provided by Cox. Rider was hanging himself from the bunk bed using a sheet. The account is the sole document Cox has been able discover the cause of the death of his brother. Rider was transported into Mat-Su Regional Medical Center.

Cox remembers the evening fondly Cox remembers the night well: The family was just going on a visit to Alaska State Fair. Alaska State Fair.

“Troopers arrived to the jail early, and informed us that there was an accident in the prison,” he said. “James was admitted to the hospital. When we arrived into the medical facility, they had informed us that he had committed suicide.”

In the hospital his parents was able to find him suffering from brain damage, and no hope of recovering. They decided of donating the organs.

When Rider was carried into an operating area “the the entire facility lined in both directions to pay respects the man,” a tradition when an organ donation occurs, Cox said. “The one outcome from the whole experience was the one time of James becoming the center of attention and making people feel comfortable by the donation he made.”

Lawsuits

The Alaska Corrections Department has a track record of failing to stop suicides.

The most prominent incident: Israel Keyes, the federal inmate who was charged with the murder of an Anchorage teenager and believed to be being a serial murderer. Investigators from the FBI were engaged in a lengthy procedure of interrogating Keyes during December of 2012, when Keyes was able take his own life in a cell of maximum security in Anchorage Correctional Complex. Anchorage Correctional Complex.

The state has paid millions of dollars as the settlement of a lawsuit as well as compensation to family members of Mark Bolus, who committed suicide within the department’s custody.

Bolus was hanged in solitary confinement in the Anchorage prison in 2014.

His family believed Bolus with schizophrenia is more secure in jail than elsewhere. Bolus’s Mother, Maria Rathbun, sued. A jury determined that the department had acted negligently and that Bolus was afflicted by mental illness , and “not capable of exercising the necessary care” for himself.

Rathbun received an amount of $650,000 for the matter.

The department is currently facing at least two suit on behalf women that attempted to commit suicide or who died by suicide while in prison in the year 2020. Both lawsuits allege that the department did not ensure that the appropriate precautions were taken.

Gabby Chipps was detained her first arrest on August. 23rd, 2020 in Homer according to a lawsuit brought by the family of her. Despite being placed on suicide precautions and being classified as “mentally insane,” she was placed in solitary confinement, also known as “administrative segregation” within the Wildwood Correctional Facility in Kenai according to the lawsuit.

A correctional officer discovered her hanging from an untidy sheet of bed linen. It took over five minutes for other employees to intervene to her and cut her off. At that point, she was suffering from brain injury.

The lawsuit details her limitations in details: “Gabby has impaired vision and is unable to see. Gabby can’t read or write, Gabby is unable to speak. Gabby can’t eat herself, Gabby cannot walk, Gabby is unable to bathe, Gabby requires a full-time caregiver for the rest of her time.”

The 21-year-old is being taken care of by relatives.

In the month of December, Natalie Andreaknoff was in prison for less than a single day when she ended her lives within the Hiland Mountain Correctional Center, according to a lawsuit filed on her behalf. The inmate was put in a cell that was out of the range security cameras according to the lawsuit.

Corrections officials “knew or ought to have known that putting Ms. Andreaknoff in a poorly monitored confinement could aggravate her depression, withdrawal symptoms, and increase the risk of suicide.”

Both lawsuits argue they were classified incorrectly by the department and that they were in a situation which made it probable that they would take their own lives.

The Alaska Department of Law said that both cases were “active lawsuits.” Department officials did not respond to the allegations contained in the lawsuits, but said it will answer in the court.

Trooper investigation

Investigations by troopers into the custody deaths that took place this year, and that were obtained from The Daily News describe instances in which the inmates were not subjected according to the department’s guidelines of irregular 15-minute wellness check-ups or when those tests didn’t reveal the true state of affairs inside a cell — as the case of Kitty Douglas.

The month of March was when Douglas, aged 20, was admitted to Hiland the Mountain Correctional Center’s mental health acute unitthe second of two facilities across the state that’s designed to provide a level of care that’s comparable to those at the Alaska Psychiatric Institute.

Douglas was native to White Mountain, had been in prison for six days in connection with the charge of misdemeanor criminal misconduct. She was charged with breaking the window of the van within the Sullivan Arena parking lot. Her bail was determined at $100.

The footage from Douglas’ cell captured her lying on her bunk bed shortly before 4 p.m. According to the trooper’s report. The last movement she made was recorded approximately 10 minutes afterward, according to the report. In the following hours correctional officers performed seven “wellness inspections” in the cell.

Nobody knew that she had been dead for three hours till 7:18 p.m. When an officer from the correctional department came in to hand out snacks.

According to the Alaska State Troopers report says Douglas’ suicide was not detected during wellness checks due to correctional officers believed Douglas was asleep under sheets.

A note that was found in her cell indicated that she would like to be burial at White Mountain.

William Ben Hensley III was locked in a cell by himself at Goose Creek’s highest-security “special administration unit” in the month of October when guards checked his condition around 1:37 a.m. The guard then went back to his desk to finish paperwork as per the investigation of a trooper investigating the death of Hensley.

The next time the police checked for a crime didn’t occur at the time of 2:20 a.m. The next check was scheduled for 2:20 a.m. 43 minutes after. Hensley III had put an overhanging sheet to block the view prior to murdering himself.

Each Alaska in-custody suicide that occurred in 2022 had the use of a ligature for hanging or asphyxiation. In the US, approximately 90% of suicides in jails stem from self-strangulation and hanging according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Corrections officials have taken the necessary steps to eliminate risks in the design of housing units Rutherford explained. Suicide protections could also include the making use of the “suicide preventive sleep method” as well as a “suicide smock” both of which are made of fabrics that are tear-resistant.

However, the department isn’t likely to entirely eliminate the risk of ligature the department said Rutherford.

“Someone may be hurt by their clothes,” he said. “You shouldn’t go to the point of removing everything.”

Change

In the last month Department of Corrections Commissioner Jen Winkelman testified about the deaths in lawmakers in the Alaska Legislature in Juneau.

The deaths of 18 aren’t enough she added. “They are a brother of someone else or a sister of someone else and they are a relative,” she said.

Edge of the ACLU Edge, of the ACLU, saw a reason to optimism in Winkelman’s responses.

“She admits that she saw far too many of them,” Edge said. “And she claimed that they’re looking into these.”

The ACLU would like for the state department to go back to having an independent internal affairs department. In the days when the department had one from about 2016 to around 2018 the deaths were looked at as an opportunity to improve the procedures, in a manner Edge believes isn’t happening nowadays.

“When suicide-related incidents happened it wasn’t a case of “Well, it was an act of suicide. There’s nothing we could take action about it. They were looking into the circumstances that allowed it to occur.”

“Like you, what could have been done to save that victim’s life?”

In their own way, the people accountable for health care in Alaska’s corrections facilities claim they must find ways to avoid suicide.

The department is part of an effort across the nation led through the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to cut down on suicides to 20% before 2025. The department is also training staff to be certified in “mental healthcare first aid.”

Rutherford would also like people to talk more openly about suicidal ideas.

“Within the confines of a correctional institution, there’s a misconception that if you discuss (suicide) it’ll take place,” he said. “It’s actually the opposite.”

Corrections officials also claim they would like people who are not in the prison could see more clearly than they can: Only what happens to be catastrophically wrong in the prison is reported in the media according to the Dr. Robert Lawrence, the chief medical officer of the department. This is not the standard health care for inmates but the suicide attempts stopped.

Mike Cox says his brother’s death has created an unlikely activist of him.

There are still some questions. The most basic ones are about what happened to Rider and the reasons for it. In addition, there are more extensive ones about how is expected of the Alaska Department of Corrections will take to stop deaths caused by despair in its prisons.

“I believe that even if I had the answers, I’d still be angry” he added.

“It’s beyond my brother’s reach right now.”

This article first appeared in Anchorage Daily News and is published here with permission.