Lifeline Patch

Datec. 2000

Mediumfabric

Dimensions4 1/8 x 2 1/2 in. (10.5 x 6.4 cm)

Donor credit lineLoan courtesy of Bristol County Sheriff's Office

Object numberL2025.22.22.1

DescriptionFabric patch held together by a push pin. Blue and white patch, showing a pair of hands reaching to for a handshake, behind the bars of a prison cell. Patch is for a group called "Lifeline Befriending Behind Bars."

Inmates in this peer-to-peer program would be trained as “Lifeliners” and would help new inmates deal with feelings of stress and being overwhelmed when they arrived to our facilities for the first time. These “lifeliners” would wear the patch on their uniforms. “Lifeliners” essentially offered peer to peer support and helped officers keep an eye on at risk inmates. At the Ash St. Jail, this program ran from the early 1990s to the early 2000s.

The Lifeliners anti-suicide program was started in the 1980s by Reverend David Hograth, a chaplain at the Charles Street Jail in Boston, Massachusetts. At the Charles Street Jail, after the implementation of this program, suicides dropped from 4 to less than 1 per year. The program trains inmates as peer counselors, who are the front line volunteers who spot and befriend depressed potentially suicidal inmates; in turn, alerting the medical and psychology staff. They also make a special effort to talk to all new inmates, due to the fact that the first few nights in prison are some of the most critical in the prevention of suicide. Also, new inmates feel less insecure when they are informed about the daily routines of prison life. ProvenanceThis item is on loan to the museum. The museum holds no copyright or capabilities for licensing. For information on copyright or rights licensing, please contact lender.

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