Pennsylvania jail buys suicide‐prevention blankets for inmates

The Allegheny County Jail in Pennsylvania is replacing its sheets and blankets with thick, quilt‐like olive green suicide‐prevention blankets that are designed to be difficult to rip or tie into nooses, the Pittsburgh Post‐Gazette reported May 13. The jail has purchased 4,600 suicide‐prevention blankets so far this year, Chief Deputy Warden Laura Williams said in a statement. At about $52 per blanket, the change will cost about $237,000, purchasing records show. Each inmate will be issued two suicide‐prevention blankets, which will replace sheets and the previous blankets. The previous blankets used by the jail cost $4.50 apiece. Jail officials hope the move will reduce the number of suicides and attempted suicides in the jail. Officials passed out 600 of the suicide‐prevention blankets to inmates in January, and no suicide attempts occurred in the housing units where those blankets were being used, Williams said. Others see the switch as a misguided attempt at suicide prevention. “This is lazy, counterproductive and inhumane,” said Bret Grote, legal director of the Abolitionist Law Center, saying that such a one‐size‐fits‐all approach to suicide prevention fails to recognize that each individual has different circumstances and needs.