OAR 291-076-0020: Definitions

(1) Adult in Custody: Any person under the supervision of the Department of Corrections who is not on parole, probation, or post-prison supervision status. (2) Behavioral Health Services (BHS): A unit within Oregon Department of Corrections Health Services with primary responsibility for the assessment and treatment of adults in custody with mental illness and intellectual disabilities. (3) Mental Health Provider: Any person employed by the department or engaged by contract with the department for the explicit purpose of providing mental health services. (4) Self-Directed Violence: Behavior that is self-directed and deliberately results in injury or the potential for injury to oneself. Self-Directed Violence may be non-suicidal, suicidal or undetermined. (5) Suicide Assessment: A brief but formal assessment of mental status, conducted by a mental health provider or by a registered nurse in consultation with a mental health provider, concluding with a judged level of suicidal risk. (6) Suicide Close Observation: Unobstructed visual observation of the adult in custody is required at staggered intervals, not to exceed 15 minutes, with recorded observation within each 15-minute interval. (7) Suicide Warning Signs: The following list provides some of the indicators of suicide potential: (a) Talk of suicide, threats of suicide; (b) Extreme sadness or crying; (c) Apathy, loss of interest in all or almost all people and activities; (d) Loss of appetite or weight; (e) Walking or completing tasks at an unusually slow speed; (f) Difficulty concentrating or thinking; (g) Sleep disturbances; (h) Emotional flatness; seems numb, non-reactive; (i) Difficulty carrying out routine tasks (for example, eating, dressing, etc.); (j) Tension and agitation; inability to relax or sit still, pacing, hand wringing; (k) Withdrawal, silent, uncommunicative; (l) Pessimistic attitude about the future; (m) Emotional outbursts, sudden expression of anger for no apparent reason; or (n) Feeling of hopelessness and helplessness. (8) Suicide Watch: Continuous and unobstructed one-to-one view of the adult in custody is required at all times with recorded observation within each 15-minute interval.