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The Cascade County Detention Center is working to improve prisoner safety reduce the number of inmate suicides.

According to Dan O'Fallon, the commander of the facility, the recent spike in inmate suicides in Cascade County isn't because there is a lack of attention to the issue.

O'Fallon said, "Nothing has changed, if anything it's gotten better...we can't stop what somebody wants to do"

An average of three Montana inmates commit suicide every year, but between December of 2010 and May of 2011, there were three suicides just at the Cascade County facility.

O'Fallon noted, "If they truly want to commit suicide, they will find a way to do that. We hope that they don't. We hope that they reach out and say they are having these feelings once they are in jail."

He says the detention center staff are doing all they can to prevent it.

When booked into custody, inmates are asked a series of questions to determine their current state of mind, all inmates are checked several times an hour, and mental health nurses are on-site.

But in the most recent three suicide incidents, O'Fallon says none of the inmates showed any sign for concern.

He said, "It's not only hard of the families but for the staff. They are the ones that have to deal with it and try to prevent it, and then they feel bad because they didn't know."

The most common method of jail suicide is strangulation by hanging.

Due to the recent incidents, the jail made improvements to bed posts making it harder for inmates to tie sheets, which O'Fallon hopes leads to fewer suicides in the future.

He said, "Anytime someone passes away it's unfortunate and more unfortunate if they take their own life."

- December 30, 2010: Phillip Humeyumptewa, a convicted rapist who hanged himself with a bedsheet at the Cascade County Detention Center on Monday, died on Wednesday night at Benefis Healthcare. Humeyumptewa was found hanging in his cell on Monday afternoon; detention officers performed CPR until emergency medical crews arrived, but Humeyumptewa was declared brain dead at the hospital.

- May 5, 2011: A press release from the Sheriff's Office reports that inmate Cory Lattin of Great Falls was found unresponsive in his cell shortly after 10 pm on Wednesday, May 4th. Lattin was transported to the emergency department at Benefis hospital, where he passed away at 12:32 am.

- May 26, 2011: Michael Kimball, an inmate at the Cascade County Detention Center, is dead after he was found hanging in his cell on Thursday. Kimball, 39, was found at approximately 6 pm on Wednesday. According to a press release from Commander Dan O'Fallon, Kimball had contact with Detention staff about 15 minutes before he was found hanging in his cell.