Suicides in prison have been on the rise for years. Experts fear the pandemic has made the situation worse.

Keri Blakinger’s “Inside Out” is a partnership between NBC News and The Marshall Project, a nonprofit newsroom covering the US criminal justice system. The column draws on Blakinger’s unique perspective as an investigative and formerly incarcerated journalist.

Mahogany Praylor bade farewell to his younger brother in April, expecting to see him soon: he was going to jail, but only for a few months.

Kevin Praylor, 43, had a long history of battling mental illness, and he had gotten into trouble because he hadn’t told his parole officer that he had moved in with his sister, where he felt the most safe during fits of paranoia.

But in mid-July, Kevin Praylor’s family received a call from the unit chaplain, informing them that he had committed suicide.

“He always said he was afraid of dying,” Mahogany Praylor said. “I was never afraid that he would hurt himself.”

Her brother’s death was one of five Texas jail suicides in less than a week. This is an unusual group of fatal self-harm behind bars, the second time since 2005 that so many Texas prisoners have committed suicide in six days, according to data analyzed by the Texas Justice Initiative, a non-profit organization. profit that publishes data on the Texas criminal. the judicial system.

Nationally, prison suicides have been on the rise for years, and some experts fear that worsening conditions and staff shortages caused by the pandemic could accelerate that increase. Delays in reporting the data, however, make it difficult to say: The most recent national figures from the Bureau of Justice Statistics showed an 85% increase in suicides in state and federal prisons from 2001 to 2018, but 2020 data will not be released until next time. year.

“We need to find out how prisons make this happen,” said Leah Wang, research analyst at the Prison Policy Initiative, a nonprofit research and advocacy group. “Without recent and reliable data, we cannot do much enforcement or meaningful policy development. “

When I asked the 10 largest prison systems in the country about their recent suicide figures, half either did not respond or could not provide current data. New York and Pennsylvania reported declines in 2020. In Michigan, the number of self-inflicted deaths more than doubled to 10 last year, from four in 2019. In federal prisons, the suicide rate has increased. slightly increased, although there were three fewer suicides. . In Texas, there were 50 prison suicides in 2020, the highest number in at least 20 years, even though the prison population fell by 20,000. Late July 2021 was on the way to exceeding that number.

Representatives from the Michigan Department of Corrections and the Federal Bureau of Prisons both noted that employees were doing everything possible to prevent suicides; they did not comment on possible reasons for the increase in self-inflicted deaths. Texas prison spokesman Jeremy Desel said the agency has formed a task force to look at ways to better prevent suicides behind bars. “What leads to suicide is an extremely difficult thing to pin down and impossible to pinpoint any one or even a group of factors that can lead an inmate to suicide,” he added. “We continue to focus our mental health care efforts on suicide and suicide prevention system-wide. “

Experts say there are two questions to consider when examining an increase in suicides behind bars: Are more inmates attempting suicide? Or do several of these attempts result in death?

The first question is difficult to elucidate: there are no definitive national data on attempted suicide in prison. Of the two largest prison systems, one – the Bureau of Prisons – has refused to release these figures, and the other – Texas – has not systematically tracked suicide attempts.

Michele Deitch, a senior lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin who studies deaths in custody, said worsening conditions during the pandemic, including isolation and fear of the virus, made prisoners more vulnerable to suicidal thoughts.

“For the rest of the world, the pandemic has been stressful, and I think the people in detention have had it but on steroids,” she said. “Every problem we encountered was magnified for them.”

Prisons across the country have suspended classes and visits for several months during the pandemic, instead locking prisoners in dormitories and cells to prevent the spread of the disease. The use of solitary confinement rose 500% as the virus raged behind bars, killing nearly 3,000 staff and prisoners across the country. As their friends died and fell ill, prisoners struggled with sewer leaks, riots, and unidentifiable food served in meager rations.

When I was arrested for drug trafficking in 2010, I went to jail in upstate New York, where conditions were much better than most of the prisons I cover now. Still, many people around me were in despair: for some of us, these were the darkest times of our lives. A few months after my stay in prison, at Easter 2011, the woman in the cell next to me attempted to kill herself.

She survived because a guard came by and arrested her.

In many places, this intervention would be less likely to occur today. Prisons are grappling with staff shortages exacerbated by the pandemic, making it difficult to monitor inmates. Several Texas prisons are under 50% staffed, Michigan is short of several hundred guards, and the federal prison system has so many vacancies that cooks and teachers work as guards.

“In such an understaffed environment, it’s very easy for someone to attempt suicide and not be discovered in time to save their life,” Deitch said.

In some southern states, the problems are compounded by the challenge of surviving without air conditioning in summer temperatures regularly exceeding 100 degrees. This is especially difficult for people who take mental health medications that make them more sensitive to heat.

“Summer and the holidays are a good indicator of this kind of [suicidal] behavior, ”said Cheri Siegelin, a former Texas correctional officer who is now a union official. “It’s because of the heat – the restlessness is increasing, their patience level is decreasing.”

As I was writing this article, a woman named Jeri Grothues contacted me: her son had attempted suicide in the Robertson unit in Abilene, TX and was on a ventilator. Before I finished reporting he died.

Months earlier, Alex Grothues, 24, wrote home about his attempt to kill himself and complained of heat blisters, inedible food and nights spent sleeping on the floor because ‘there were no more mattresses.

His mother believes these conditions “absolutely” contributed to his death. “Baking, freezing or starving them is inhumane,” she said.

For Mahogany Praylor, it is not known what prompted his brother to commit suicide.

They both grew up in Southeast Texas, raised by a single mother who insisted on attending church regularly and studying the Bible. Kevin Praylor, who usually had a soft voice, took drugs and dropped out of school. Soon he began to cycle in and out of prisons and hospitals as he struggled with mental health issues.

“He wasn’t a bad person; he was just mentally unstable, ”said Mahogany Praylor. “But they should have watched him more.”

If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text HOME at 741741, or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.