BECAUSE OF BENGHAZI!:

[I]nmate suicides are such a regular part of life in American prisons and jails that none of us should be surprised whenever they occur. They are the leading cause of death behind bars, and have been for many years, and the problem seems to be getting worse. The latest statistics, from 2014, tell us the rate of suicides in jails was the highest it's been since at least 2000. This even though there is more public awareness surrounding the phenomenon and a cry for better records (and details) about the number of suicides that take place each year.

Inmates suicides are an epidemic corrections officials won't talk about. The deaths transcend race and geography. They occur, as we saw with Epstein, in federal jails in a big city and they occur in lonely rural prisons. They occur where a pretrial detainee has been jailed just days earlier, as was the case with Sandra Bland in Texas, and they occur where a convicted prisoner has been left to languish for months or years in solitary confinement. Not every suicide can be prevented, of course, but scores of inmates could be saved every year if corrections officials would just earnestly protect those in their custody and control.

These deaths occur not just because guards are poorly trained and jails understaffed, or because often the procedures in place to protect suicidal inmates are woefully outdated and inadequate. The biggest problem is one of attitude. Inmates are able to commit suicide because their guards have dehumanized them to the point where they don't care enough whether they live or die. Epstein's death reminded me of the remorseless, cruel attitude that allows inmates to be kept shackled even in death, when they leave for the local morgue.

The annual suicide rate among union members exceeded California's overall suicide rate of 10.3 per 100,000 people in 13 of those 17 years, according to an Associated Press analysis of union data. The number peaked at 13 in 2012, a rate more than four times that of the state's general population.

Now, a first-in-the-nation study coordinated among the union, California's corrections agency and University of California, Berkeley researchers is trying to figure out why and what to do about it.

Inmate suicides have been intensively studied, but until now there has been limited research on how the job affects correctional employees, Berkeley researcher Amy Lerman said -- and virtually none on programs that might help officers cope.

"I think it reflects a growing recognition across the country that correctional staff and law enforcement are experiencing these types of issues and it needs to be taken seriously," Lerman said.

About 10 percent of prison guards say they have considered or attempted suicide, a rate nearly three times that of the general U.S. population, according to data provided to the AP from a survey completed by 8,300 of California's 30,000 correctional and parole officers.

It's even higher among retired guards -- about 14 percent, similar to the suicide risk among military veterans.

Half of correctional officers expressed at least one symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Researchers cited officers' frequent exposure to violence and injury, their perception of constant danger, and their reluctance to share traumatic experiences with family members or counselors.

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