Apparently state officials think a debate between the federal courts and California over the mental and physical well-being of prisoners is best served by hiding important information about inmate suicides.

Faced with a deadline for telling the courts how California would further reduce prison overcrowding and improve inmate health care, Governor Jerry Brown’s administration declared in January that the mission was accomplished and the feds could go home.

“California’s prison health care system is now a model for the nation,” said newly-appointed Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary Jeff Beard. “Independent expert reviews have found that California’s prison medical and mental health care systems meet constitutional standards.”

Well, maybe not all independent experts.

The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday that the administration suppressed a report by national suicide prevention expert Lindsay Hayes in 2011 that the system for holding suicidal patients in tiny, filthy, airless holding cells contributed to them committing suicide. Hayes was told to write a shorter version of his report for prisoner lawyers and the court-appointed monitor overseeing the prison system.

Somehow, lawyers got a hold of the original report, which prompted the state to ask the U.S. District judge in charge of the case to destroy it. That didn’t happen. Although Hayes contract called for him to follow up the report with additional consultation and reports, that didn’t happen either.

A few days after the governor called for an end to federal oversight, the court-appointed monitor cited the high rate of prison suicides as a prime reason for not ending it. Special Master Matthew Lopes noted that there were 32 suicides in California prisons in 2012, a 13% increase over the year before and nearly double the national prison suicide rate.

Lopes said that the courts shouldn’t consider returning control of the prisons to the state until it has dealt with the suicide problem. Burying the Hayes report probably wasn’t what he had in mind.

–Ken Broder

To Learn More:

California Suppressed Consultant's Report on Inmate Suicides (by Paige St. John, Los Angeles Times)

Amnesty International Releases Report Condemning California Prison Isolation Units (by Sal Rodriguez, Solitary Watch)

The Edge of Endurance: Prison Conditions in California's Security Housing Units (Amnesty International)

State Prisons Not Ready to End Court Oversight, Official Says (by Paige St. John, Los Angeles Times)