Three Macomb County Jail inmates dead by suicide since May

MACOMB COUNTY, Mich. (WJBK) - If you or a loved one is feeling distressed, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The crisis center provides free and confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to civilians and veterans. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. Or text to 741-741

CLICK HERE for the warning signs and risk factors of suicide. Call 1-800-273-TALK for free and confidential emotional support.

The Macomb County Jail is changing policies after a recent rise in suicides by inmates.

They've had three deaths in the last few months, with two of them taking place in the last week.

Macomb County Sheriff Anthony Wickersham says the jail has seen three suicides since May.

Experts say death by suicide can never be pinned to one reason in particular. The inmates were in custody for a number of different crimes.

"We had a solicitation of murder on a female that happened in May," Wickersham said. "The other two [deaths, one] was an OWI and [the other was] a criminal sexual conduct complaint and a drug complaint was the one that happened yesterday."

Michelle Evanoff recently spent 60 days in the jail on narcotics charges

"I thought about it when I was in jail, but I have a son so I think that's what kept me going," she said.

Wickersham said his office investigated what happened.

"They had roommates. During these investigations, we talked to everybody involved," Wickersham continued. "We talked to the inmates that were in the pods and again there was no indication that they had any problems."

Wickersham says in light of these recent incidents his department is reviewing policies and procedures and increasing security rounds by checking on inmates every 30 minutes instead of every 50 minutes in hopes of working to prevent another suicide.

"We do our best along with our healthcare provider, our mental healthcare provider, to identify those that are the highest risk and those are the ones that are segregated and put into our mental health unit where there's more constant supervision," Wickersham said.

The Macomb County Jail saw one suicide in 2015, none in 2016, and so far three in 2017.

"Over three years, we only had one. In the first seven months, we had three. It's something that myself and my staff are looking at to try and identify what we can do to change that," Wickersham said.