Most of the six inmates in Massachusetts prisons who died by suicide last year had been in or just left segregated units the Department of Correction had created to replace the discredited practice of solitary confinement.
In a new report, an independent consultant retained to look into the suicides found that for prisoners, the segregated cells “may be the same as being placed in restrictive housing thus resulting in increased risk for suicide.”
The findings echo concerns raised by a legal advocacy group in a 2024 lawsuit on behalf of hundreds of inmates alleging conditions closely mirror solitary confinement and worsen prisoners’ mental health.
The corrections department now uses so-called Behavior Assessment Units as a replacement for solitary confinement after a federal investigation in 2020 found that prolonged stays there violated the rights of prisoners with mental illness.
Corrections officials insist inmates have more freedom in the new units; they are allowed out for three hours each day, receive visitors, have access to wellness groups once a week, and can continue attending programs such as educational classes remotely.
DOC Commissioner Shawn Jenkins said the assessment units “are used to address people’s reasons for being there” and “hopefully turn them around.” He added, “We no longer have restricted housing.”
For several years since the federal settlement, the number of suicides in Massachusetts prisons dropped significantly, one each in 2022 and 2023 and none at all in 2024. But following the sharp increase to six in 2025, the DOC commissioned a review by clinical psychologist Sharen Barboza.
Barboza found that four of the men had previously tried to kill themselves, and that clinicians had not developed safety plans to prevent future attempts.
Three of the six men were in segregated behavior units at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center and MCI-Norfolk and two of those three were transferred there for being intoxicated, according to Barboza’s report. The report also found the DOC’s response to substance use was inconsistent, with the agency punishing some inmates and providing treatment to others.
“The impact of treating intoxication as a disciplinary or clinical issues requires clarity as does the response when an individual is found to be intoxicated,” Barboza wrote. “There is no simple or easy answer, yet the frequency with which the deaths by suicide in 2025 included substance and [Behavior Assessment Unit] placement cannot be overlooked.”
In a statement, Dave Rini, executive director of Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts, which is involved in the lawsuit brought by inmates, said the units are “solitary confinement by another name.”
“They are systemic failures, and they are costing people their lives,” he said.
Two other prisoners died by suicide at Souza-Baranowski and a third killed himself at MCI-Shirley, DOC records show.
Attorney Patty DeJuneas, who represents clients incarcerated at MCI-Norfolk, identified the men who had been intoxicated at the time as Christopher Stiles, 36, and Robert McNickles, 73, who died by suicide a week apart in September.
The men were known users of the synthetic cannabinoid known as K2, which has infiltrated the state’s prison system, DeJuneas said. Last fall, the DOC said it stopped sending people to the behavior units for K2 consumption.
Stiles was serving up to 45 years for the 2013 aggravated rape of a 65-year-old woman in Fall River, court records show. McNickles was serving life without parole for the rape and murder of a cousin, a 12-year-old girl, and for killing his uncle in Boston in 1992, court records show.
A fourth man killed himself a day after returning to general population from a segregated unit, Barboza said in her report.
One of the prisoners, Zahkuan Bailey Sweeting, 25, hanged himself on April 10, 2025, in the segregated behavior unit at Souza-Baranowski, investigators said.
He was serving up to six years after pleading guilty in 2024 to a second firearm offense, court records show.
His mother, Shyann Bailey, said she doesn’t accept the determination by investigators that her son died by suicide.
“They put your kids in prison. You know, all taxpayers pay for that,” Bailey said last week at her home in New Bedford. “And you expect your child to come home and not in a body bag.”
Jenkins, the DOC commissioner, said the agency wants to prevent suicides, but defended the segregated units, saying they are not punitive and prisoners are afforded more freedoms than in “restricted housing,” another term for solitary confinement.
“We’re committed as an organization to ensure that these don’t happen in the future and we are doing everything that we possibly can to enhance our operation,” Jenkins said.
But DeJuneas, who represents clients in the segregated units, said conditions there amount to solitary confinement. During hours when people are allowed to leave their cells, they are chained to tables in a common area, she said.
“It’s cruel and it serves no purpose,” DeJuneas said. “If the [Behavior Assessment Unit] is about changing people’s behavior, you can’t do that by chaining people to a table.”
DOC is also investigating another apparent suicide, on March 6, at Souza-Baranowski.
In that incident, an inmate in the prison’s Residential Treatment Unit jumped from an elevated tier at 10:40 a.m. and died at a hospital, a spokesperson said. The Worcester district attorney’s office identified him as Nam Van, 51.
He was serving up to 30 years for aggravated rape and armed assault convictions, court records show.
All the men who killed themselves in 2025 were incarcerated for violent crimes and had been housed alone when they died, Barboza wrote. All but Bailey Sweeting were serving sentences of at least 25 years to life in prison, according to the report, which was dated Jan. 30 and did not name the men.
Barboza declined to comment when reached recently.
Her report offered 15 policy and training recommendations, including improving the process for transferring prisoners to segregated units, conducting more mental health evaluations while they’re there, and developing protocols for assessing suicide risks.
The DOC issued a news release with a 22-point plan in response to Barboza’s recommendations.
Jenkins didn’t specify a timeline for implementation of those steps, though he said DOC in February gave prisoners access to a hot line staffed by health care professionals between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m., the hours when most suicides occurred. DOC said it is seeking hot line usage data from its vendor.
Jenkins said the agency is also planning to address Barboza’s concerns about gaps in communication on inmate health by issuing tablets to clinical staff, allowing them to view updated medical records and enter notes in real time.
DOC’s action plan did not propose structural changes to the behavior assessment units, but Jenkins said the agency intends to add information to prisoners’ tablets about the specialized areas, Jenkins said.
The prison system is trying to combat K2 with drug detection technology, intelligence gathering, a task force, and education of visitors about the consequences of introducing the substance into a facility, he said.
Jenkins acknowledged Barboza’s view that the DOC must be “more clear about how we’re approaching this issue from a treatment perspective versus a facilities climate perspective.”
He said transferring K2 users to different housing facilities is a way to stop them from accessing the drug.
“We’re not punishing them, but we’re also looking to make sure we’re disrupting the flow of their ability to access this particular product,” Jenkins said.
But DeJuneas said the prison system is not doing enough to provide effective treatment for K2 addiction and treats intoxication as a serious disciplinary offense, rather than a medical condition.
“Anyone who has been paying attention to the K2 problem would not be the least bit surprised by this,” she said. “We should not be driving people to suicide.”
Laura Crimaldi can be reached at laura.crimaldi@globe.com. Follow her @lauracrimaldi.