Sheriff cites need for mental health services

BANGOR – Suicide attempts by two Penobscot County Jail inmates this week spotlight what jail officials statewide say is a growing problem.

On Wednesday, 36-year-old John Turner and 26-year-old Frederick Olsen, both of Bangor, tried to commit suicide in separate incidents. Both men received medical attention at the jail and survived.

Turner, who attempted to strangle himself with a shoelace, was physically fine, but Olsen, who hanged himself with a bedsheet, remained in critical condition Friday at Eastern Maine Medical Center.

On Friday, the Maine Sheriff’s Association issued a statement expressing frustration that services for inmates in distress are hard to come by.

“Although attempted suicide is not necessarily an indicator of mental illness, the tragic situation in Penobscot County reminds us once again that county jails are not designed for nor equipped to treat the mentally ill,” the Maine Sheriff’s Association said. “And yet our correctional personnel are routinely confronted with persons suffering varying degrees and types of mental illness.”

Friday evening, Penobscot County Sheriff Glenn Ross said an inmate was being taken to a local hospital because medical staff at the jail couldn’t adequately deal with the inmate’s alcohol-related crisis. Medical staff at the Penobscot County Jail had been criticized for not doing enough for an inmate last year who died as a result of alcohol withdrawal syndrome.

For jail administrators statewide, it’s an issue of too many needing services and not enough programs or bed space.

Meanwhile, jails are cramped for space as they face rising inmate populations, officials say.

Robert S. Howe, executive director of the Maine Sheriff’s Association, said a new mental health facility in Augusta has too few beds to meet increased demand and even fewer beds for patients transferred from the jail.

The sheriffs also expressed sympathy for the families of the inmates and vowed to do their utmost to ensure the safety of “all persons who are placed in custody.”