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The state's prison system will become the first to evaluate the Fitbit-like devices, which use algorithms to track prisoners' vitals.
Last year, an investigation by the US Department of Justice found that the Massachusetts Department of Corrections (MADOC) had been violating the Eighth Amendment of cruel and unusual punishment by failing to provide adequate mental health treatment to incarcerated people in crisis. The DOJ characterized MADOC’s mental health watch practices as restrictive, isolating, and involving unnecessarily harsh conditions.
I do not see how the anti-suicide bracelets are used to help the prisoners. It seems as if they are made to lower the suicide rates within the prison system by alerting guards when a crisis is in process. There are safe ways to help prisoners cope and overcome the various mental problems they may be battling. What techniques are being used to follow up after an alert besides stopping a suicide attempt? Are they placed back in a cell alone, seeing a therapist, etc? The bracelets are fill-ins because the prisoners aren’t being properly monitored. What about the prisoners who aren’t capable of trying to commit suicide , yet battling with the same mental health issues? The bracelets won’t benefit them, some prisoners may begin to express their pain through aggression towards others, yet they’ll just be looked at as a criminal instead of someone crying out for help. The “anti-suicide“ bracelets doesnt seem to do anything to target the root of why prisoners are committing suicide. Therefore, not solving the actual issue.