Alaska prison suicide rate 2nd-highest in nation for unified correctional systems

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - In Alaska, there have been at least 114 prisoner and inmate deaths from 2015 to 2024, according to new Department of Corrections data.

DOC is required to provide prisoners and inmates “essential care,” according to Travis Welch, the DOC Director of Health and Rehabilitative Services.

“Essential care isn’t Cadillac care, but it also is not substandard care,” Welch told lawmakers in Juneau earlier this month.

Information released this month by the DOC shows that Alaska’s in-custody suicide rate is second highest, only behind Rhode Island, from 2001-2019 for unified correctional systems; that’s a term to describe when state-level prison and jail systems are under a single agency, which includes Alaska and five other states.

DOC says that is a slight decrease from previous years.

Deaths while in custody, classified under “manner of death,” show that natural causes (68%) and suicides (26%) ranked highest, while deaths classified as “natural causes” were led by cardiovascular disease (43%) and cancer (22%).

The department says the numbers reflect an average of about 11 deaths per year from 2015-2024; the state average among all residents is about 5,004 deaths per year over the same time period, according to Welch.

Welch told lawmakers the medical problems prisoners and inmates face are a subset of the greater Alaska community, but the needs can be larger for the prison population because of an inability to acquire medical treatment while not in custody.

“With this group, as you stated, we do see a higher number of people who may have never seen a doctor, or because of their mental illness or their substance use disorder, lack the ability to make a doctor’s appointment,” Welch said.

Rep. Kevin McCabe, R-Big Lake, said at first he was “shocked” by DOC’s healthcare budget, but after looking at the issues he understood why.

Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, I-Sitka, pointed out how the high medical problems are a reflection of the prison as well as the student population.

“Given that our correction facilities mirror our communities, I think you could say the same about our schools,” Himschoot said. “That our society is reflected in our schools. So these highest-in-the-nation statistics that you presented here would have impacts on people who are the family for the children in our schools.”

Welch testified there is a higher concentration of physical health care needs, substance use disorder and mental illness within DOC custody with 65% living with a mental illness, 80% having a substance use disorder and they are twice as likely to have high blood pressure and related chronic disease.

DOC says the inmate/prisoner population at the time of the report’s release was 4,417 in 2024.

Alaska is second in the nation for drug overdose deaths within DOC and leads the nation for alcohol poisoning, according to DOC data.

The Alaska Department of Corrections reported it had at least 65 people die in custody of state prisons and jails since 2020, with at least 16 deaths reported as suicides, according to the department.

There have been at least 30 deaths reported as suicides since 2015, according to the department.

There were at least 14 deaths last year. Two deaths were reported so far this year, with one investigated by the Alaska State Troopers and reported as a suicide.

Alaska state medical and corrections officials pointed to “natural causes,” including acute and chronic disease and illnesses, as the leading cause of in-custody deaths — or 68% of reported deaths since 2015.

Alaska maintains 13 prison facilities. Hiland Mountain Correctional Center is the only all-female facility in the state. Goose Creek is the largest DOC prison facility with a general capacity of 1,408 inmates/prisoners.

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