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WILKES-BARRE — Another female inmate tried to commit suicide at the Luzerne County prison, but corrections officers may have caught this one in time.
County Correctional Division Head Mark Rockovich said officers discovered the attempt Tuesday night during their periodic rounds and immediately summoned an ambulance to transport the woman to the hospital.
“The inmate is in the hospital, and we’re hoping for the best,” Rockovich said Wednesday, noting he can’t release a name or details due to medical confidentiality.
The June 8 death of inmate Brooke Griesing at the prison on Water Street in Wilkes-Barre was ruled a suicide after an autopsy concluded she died of asphyxia due to hanging.
Another inmate, Joan Rosengrant, was found unresponsive in her prison cell on July 7 and later pronounced dead at a hospital. Her cause of death is still undetermined pending toxicology results.
There were seven attempted county inmate suicides in 2016 and nine this year to date, Rockovich said.
These statistics indicate an increase in recent years, according to past online data posted by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, which requires county prisons to report all attempted suicides because they are deemed extraordinary occurrences.
There were three suicide attempts at the county prison in 2015, one in 2014 and four each in 2013 and 2012, the state data shows.
The high was in 2011, when there were 10 suicide attempts, more than triple the three in 2010.
Rockovich said the prison performs screening when inmates arrive attempting to identify those at risk of suicide, and protocol is in place to continue monitoring for suicidal behavior. Flagged inmates may be segregated in separate cells and subject to increased monitoring, he said.
The inmate now in the hospital was not pinpointed as a suicide risk, Rockovich said.
More inmates with mental health disabilities have landed in the county prison in recent years, officials have said. Some of these conditions are tied to drug addiction. The closure and downsizing of state hospitals in favor of community-based treatment programs that in many cases never materialized also has been cited as a contributor.
County officials announced a new pilot program in January to provide additional individual and group therapy to some of these inmates. The prison has been providing basic services to this population through two staff mental health counselors and a contracted psychiatrist, but Rockovich said increased intervention is warranted.
He has estimated 8 percent to 12 percent of county inmates typically have a diagnosed mental health condition such as bipolar disorder, depression and schizophrenia.
Griesing, 23, Hazleton, the inmate who hanged herself, was lodged in the prison after being unable to post bail following her arrest for theft, receiving stolen property, drug possession and a traffic offense, court records show.
Rosengrant, 47, Wilkes-Barre, had no external signs of trauma, according to the coroner’s office. She also was incarcerated for lack of bail and was accused of supplying heroin and fentanyl in a fatal overdose earlier this year.