This is almost a decent article on suicides in the NY State Prison System - however, we never find out what the "successful" suicide rate per 100,000 inmate population is. Probably less than the 67 / 100,000 rate for Barrington, IL teen-agers aged 15-19

January 14, 2011

Prison Suicides

The New York State prison system has greatly improved mental health services since 2007 when it settled a lawsuit that had accused it of mistreating mentally ill inmates. A troubling increase in prison suicides suggests that all of the problems have not been solved.
State records show that there were 20 suicides in 2010, double the number in 2009 and the highest since 1978, the first year for which records were released. The figures inched higher in the 1980s, then even higher in the ’90s. The decade that just ended was the worst on record, with more than 125 inmates taking their own lives.
The increase is both troubling and puzzling, especially since the prison population has declined by 20 percent in the last 10 years. In addition, the Department of Corrections has improved conditions for the mentally ill, creating new therapeutic programs and retraining staff. It has also placed fewer severely disturbed inmates in solitary confinement where they were at a much greater risk of taking their own lives. Most important, entering inmates are screened by mental health professionals.
Advocates for the mentally ill say that suicide prevention programs are being poorly implemented. Others have even suggested that prison officials in some locations may be encouraging staff members to misdiagnose the most severely disturbed people since they would be entitled to intensive — and costly — therapy. The fact that some who had committed suicide were not even listed on the mental health caseload as needing close attention is certainly worrying.
The rising suicide rate must be investigated and remedies quickly found. A prison sentence for a mentally ill person should not be a sentence to death.