Dane County deputies injured while intervening during suicide attempt at jail

MADISON, Wis. — Deputies intervened in a suicide attempt Sunday morning by an inmate at the Dane County Jail, according to a release from the Dane County Sheriff’s Office.

Mental health professionals and jail medical staff had worked with the inmate after he began exhibiting self-harm behaviors this weekend, the release said.

Two of the deputies who intervened were injured after the inmate became resistive, according to the release.

The Dane County Sheriff’s Office has partnered with NAMI Wisconsin, NAMI of Dane County and Well-Path for several years to provide deputies with crisis intervention training.

The Dane County Jail was seeing an increase in attempted suicides in 2019. Jail staff began keeping track of attempted suicides in 2013.

According to Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney, more than 40% of the jail population has some level of mental illness and 80% deal with some kind of alcohol or drug abuse issues.

COPYRIGHT 2020 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.