Report 2016-131 Recommendation 14 Responses

Report 2016-131: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation: It Must Increase Its Efforts to Prevent and Respond to Inmate Suicides (Release Date: August 2017)

Recommendation #14 To: Corrections and Rehabilitation, Department of

To maximize the value of its trainings related to suicide prevention and response, Corrections should ensure that starting in January 2018, its trainings include all content that the special master and its own policies require.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2020

CDCR finalized the curriculum for the 2-Hour IST Suicide Prevention course. It has been fully vetted and approved for use in the institutions. As of January 1, 2020, all institutional IST departments were instructed to utilize the new curriculum.

Proof of Practice - Item 14 - IST Suicide Prevention v4.0 - Lesson Revision to be submitted via email.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Fully Implemented


Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From November 2019

Due to the volume of the response, updates will be submitted via email.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending


1-Year Agency Response

The Department will ensure that the annual Suicide Prevention Annual In-Service Training and the Basic Correctional Officer Academy training includes Dealing with Manipulative Inmates. Results of recent tours, audits and suicide case reviews have been incorporated. The Statewide Mental Health Program met with the Office of the Special Master Suicide Prevention Expert the week of February 12, 2018 to review the training and additional recommendations, which have been added to the training. Changes were made in 2017 and implemented in January of 2018. Copies of revised training materials will be provided once complete.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending


6-Month Agency Response

The SMHP and DAI will work with the Office of Training and Development to ensure that the annual Suicide Prevention Annual In-Service Training and the Basic Correctional Officer Academy training include Dealing with Manipulative Inmates. Results of recent tours, audits and suicide case reviews have been incorporated. The Statewide Mental Health Program will be meeting with the Office of the Special Master Suicide Prevention Expert the week of 2/12/18 to review the training and additional recommendations.

In addition, the Safety Planning webinar will be revised to include a segment on dealing with perceived manipulation.

The recommendation to include the Mental Health Assessment process for rules violation reports is not directly related to suicide risk reduction. Because the annual In-Service Training will be incorporating some additional items directly related to suicide prevention which must be covered in the allotted time, any additional information cannot be added without resulting in inappropriately shortening the suicide prevention related material.

Copies of revised training materials will be provided once complete.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending


60-Day Agency Response

The SMHP and DAI will work with the Office of Training and Development to ensure that the annual Suicide Prevention and Crisis Intervention training and the Basic Correctional Officer Academy training include Dealing with Manipulative Inmates. Results of recent tours, audits and suicide case reviews will be incorporated. In addition, the Safety Planning webinar will be revised to include a segment on dealing with perceived manipulation.

The recommendation to include the Mental Health Assessment process for rules violation reports is not directly related to suicide risk reduction. Because the annual In-Service Training will be incorporating some additional items directly related to suicide prevention which must be covered in the allotted time, any additional information cannot be added without resulting in inappropriately shortening the suicide prevention related material.

Copies of revised training materials will be provided once complete.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending


All Recommendations in 2016-131

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.