Prison Suicides.

The New York State prison system has greatly improved mental health services since 2007 when it settled a lawsuit that had accused it of mistreating mentally ill inmates. A troubling increase in prison suicides suggests that all of the problems have not been solved. State records show that there were 20 suicides in 2010, double the number in 2009 and the highest since 1978, the first year for which records were released. The figures inched higher in the 1980s, then even higher in the '90s. The decade that just ended was the worst on record, with more than 125 inmates taking their own lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]