Butler County Prison officials are looking to create a crisis intervention center in a part of the jail known as “the pit” as a means of keeping an eye on prisoners who are on suicide watch.

It’s unclear whether the prison aims to do so in response to current statewide prison trends, but this proposal is a good idea.

According to an October report in the Philadelphia Inquirer, a total of 13 prisoners had so far committed suicide this year in Pennsylvania prisons. Last year’s total was 14 suicides, which was the worst in more than two decades.

That same report noted that the suicide rate in the state’s prisons has skyrocketed by 103 percent over a period of nine years, and cited a number of factors that have led to the spike — including mental-health issues, substance abuse disorders, a lack of social support and, in some instances, a combination of these various factors.

The Inquirer reported that prisoners are often most likely to make a suicide attempt toward the beginning of their sentence, but also that — not surprisingly — those who are facing life imprisonment are at high risk.

With Congress currently tackling criminal justice reform — which includes reducing prison sentences for inmates who are deemed unlikely to be repeat offenders — the Butler County Prison’s proposal arrives in a timely fashion.

The prison’s plan is to utilize an underused space that has a few cells and a row of chairs for the crisis intervention center as well as add padding to two current cells. Beau Sneddon, the prison’s deputy warden of operations, said that the space would be used to house inmates “somewhere safe and secure until they come out of crisis.” Funding is not yet being sought and the project is expected to take some time to bring to fruition.

Regardless of the offenses for which they have been removed from society, inmates have rights and there have long been calls for greater compassion within the U.S. prison system. Much of the time, prisoners end up where they are as a result of making poor decisions that negatively affect others. However, our society is one that aspires to protect human dignity for all people.

The Butler County Prison’s plan would take a small, but necessary, step in that direction for those incarcerated in our community. Also, the safety and well being of a prisoner not only affects those who are incarcerated. It is estimated that 2.7 million children in the United States have parents who are serving time. While these children’s futures are not set in stone, the ability for their parents to serve out their time safely, rehabilitate and reenter society could have an enormous impact on the trajectory of their own lives.

The proposal for the Butler County Prison is a good one that could improve the lives of community members on both sides of the bars.