A Look At The Systems In Place To Prevent Deaths By Suicide In Prisons

Systems in place in jails and prisons are supposed to prevent inmates from taking their own lives, but there are lapses.

State Police and the state Department of Correction are investigating the apparent suicide of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez. The DOC says Hernandez hanged himself early Wednesday morning in his cell.

Hernandez was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the 2013 murder of his friend Odin Lloyd. He was acquitted in a separate double murder just last week.

Lindsay Hayes is project director for the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives, a group that consults with prisons to avoid suicides. He evaluated Massachusetts prisons in 2007 and 2011, following spikes in inmate suicides. He joined WBUR's All Things Considered to discuss his findings in the aftermath of Hernandez's death.