My friend O’Hara killed himself today while in the SHU, where he was being punished for overdosing. We had discussed his problem, but he needed more help. O’Hara had just gotten on MAT and was stable. But as a result, he fell asleep several times at the TV tables. He was harassed for that because everyone thought he was smoking K2, which is frowned upon unless you are behind the doors of your cell.
When he overdosed, the complex warden posted a memo threatening to punish all of us for drug smuggling. He carried out this threat by taking all our phone and email privileges away for A Unit.
I think O’Hara killed himself because he could didn’t want to face everyone in the unit after they lost their phone and email privileges. That’s what collective punishment does. So, I think guilt killed him, along with depression due to his prison sentence (300 months) and his wife’s serious medical problems.