Mental-Health Facility Stays Among Suicide Decedents in U.S. Jails and Prisons: A Descriptive Analysis of Federal Data, 2010-2019

Background: Published correctional mortality tables describe selected characteristics of suicide decedents, but aggregate data cannot estimate an individual's suicide risk or determine whether mental illness was undocumented.We describe the reported history of an overnight mental-health facility stay since admission among suicide decedents in local jails and state prisons.Methods: We conducted a retrospective descriptive secondary analysis of federal statistical tables for 2010-2019.We summarized published Yes, No, and Unknown percentages overall and across two five-year periods, retaining the applicable suicide totals as denominators.Because category counts were not published, we estimated counts as each published denominator multiplied by its rounded percentage, rounded to the nearest whole number.These are approximate estimates, not source-reported counts.No individual-level records or inferential comparisons were used.Results: Among local-jail suicide decedents (N=3,327), estimated counts were 462 (13.9%) with a reported stay, 2,389 (71.8%) with no reported stay, and 469 (14.1%) with unknown status.Among state-prison decedents (N=2,403), estimated counts were 363 (15.1%), 1,235 (51.4%), and 759 (31.6%), respectively.Published percentages sum to 99.8% for jails and 98.1% for state prisons, leaving arithmetic residuals of 0.2 and 1.9 percentage points.Rounding alone cannot explain these residuals; the source (Bureau of Justice Statistics) notes missing data but does not specify their exact composition.The percentages are the primary results; estimated counts cannot recover exact frequencies.From 2010-2014 to 2015-2019, the reported Yes percentage decreased by 0.7 percentage points in jails and 6.2 points in prisons; these are descriptive changes, not tested trends.Local-jail totals exclude deaths in six combined jail-and-prison systems included in state-prison totals.Conclusion: These aggregate tables describe service history among suicide decedents only.They cannot establish an association with suicide, estimate suicide risk, or support causal or individual-level conclusions.Unknown status and differing jurisdictional coverage limit interpretation.Evaluating relationships among mental-health needs, documentation, services, and mortality requires appropriately governed individuallevel data and valid comparison groups.