Sheriff Jack Strain is happy that his agency and the American Civil Liberties Union have came to an agreement concerning how suicidal prisoners are handled in the St. Tammany Parish Jail; however, he said, the larger issue is still not being addressed.

“Because the state has ignored its obligation, the lack of mental health care has become a problem for law enforcement,” Strain said.

The sheriff was criticized and threatened with a lawsuit last month over what Marjorie Esman, ACLU executive director for Louisiana, called inhumane treatment of prisoners.

Sheriff Jack Strain

The ACLU claimed that Strain was “caging suicidal prisoners in 3-foot by 3-foot metal ‘squirrel cages,” forcing them to wear cut off shorts with the words “Hot Stuff” written on the buttocks and not allowing them to go to the bathroom.

Strain did not deny that suicidal patients, as a last resort, are put into the booking cages that are in the front of the jail.

He said this is the safest place for these inmates to be, because it is the only place in the jail where he can guarantee they are within view of deputies at all times.

“These cages are an absolute last resort,” Strain said.

Earlier this week, Esman applauded what she refereed to as “new policies” concerning the use of the “squirrel cages.”

Strain acknowledged that the two sides have met, and small concessions were made on both sides, but he said to call them “policy changes” would be a stretch.

“What we agreed to do is what we have done all along,” Strain said. “Nothing has changed. They (the holding cells) were always used only as a last resort.”

Strain said the inmates in the holding cells have always had access to bathroom facilities when they have requested to use them.

He has agreed that inmates will only be placed in these holding cells only under the order of a medical professional, but added that too has always been the policy.

He said if a doctor determines that a person is in danger of hanging himself, the legs of his pants will be cut off.

He acknowledged that he is aware of one instance in which the words “Hot Stuff” was written on the back of a pair of these cut-off pants, but it is unknown who wrote the words on the pants.

“It has never happened again,” he said, “and I agreed that it would never happen again.”

He stressed that as with placing them in the small holding cells, placing suicidal prisoners in cut-off shorts is not a meant as a means to humiliate them but rather as a way of preventing them from being able to do harm to themselves.

As part of the concessions made with the ACLU, a part-time investigator with the Sheriff’s Office’s Internal Affairs division has had his job description reworked to place his full focus on addressing possibly problems at the jail.

“We have committed a position to quickly investigate any accusations of wrong doing on behalf of an employee in the jail,” Strain said. He said that person would now only focus on the jail and will not have to balance his work at the jail with another caseload.

However, Strain said while these concession and agreements takes the threat of a lawsuit from the ACLU off his back, they do nothing to address the larger problem of untreated mental illness in St. Tammany Parish.

“It doesn’t change the fact that we have a mental health problem in this parish,” he said, “ and there is no one screaming and hollering to get it fixed.”

He said there is a crisis in St. Tammany Parish and it is being reflected in the jail.

Last year there were 400 attempted suicides in St. Tammany Parish. This year the parish total of suicides is on pace to exceed 40.

Strain said because of a lack of funding for treatment, many of the individuals who suffer from mental health issues end up in jail.

He said if the mental health issue were to be addressed properly, crime rates and suicide rates would both decrease.

“I will take help from anyone, anywhere that will work with me as a partner to address this issue,” he said.

He is currently working with members of the faith-based community to address the problem.