Leslie Walker, executive director of the nonprofit Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts, which serves indigent inmates, said the state had a worse-than-average inmate suicide rate a decade ago but had done some work to “suicide proof” its facilities, such as installing clothing hooks that collapse if too much weight is placed on them.
Walker, from past visits to the prison, described the layout of the standard maximum-security cells there. The windows are small rectangles about three feet off the ground, and the metal frame is flush with the glass, leaving no easy way to slip a sheet through or around the metal, she said.
“It’s designed as a supermax prison, so it’s mostly cement and then the frame around the window is metal,” Walker said. “I imagine there would be an opportunity to figure out a way to pry that metal, but I had not heard of it before.”