A Chinese national attempted suicide Sunday morning in the ICE detention center at the Hudson County jail, telling a staff psychologist he would rather die than return to China, according to a memo obtained by The Jersey Journal.

The memo, written by the Director of Corrections Ron Edwards and sent to County Administrator Abe Antun, described an incident in which the 55-year-old detainee was found “unresponsive alongside a large amount of blood” with a self-inflicted wrist injury at 1:44 a.m.

He was treated at Jersey City Medical Center and later returned to the correctional facility in Kearny, where he was placed in the mental health unit.

The detainee told a psychologist at the facility that “he feared going back to China because he would be tortured. He would rather take his own life in the United States,” the memo states.

The detainee was taken into custody Dec. 4 in New York after allegedly overstaying his visa, according to the document.

A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond Thursday to a request for comment on the man’s immigration status.

The suicide attempt is the latest in a series of incidents at Hudson County Correctional Facility. Six deaths were reported at the jail between June 2017 and March 2018, four of which were suicides.

The deaths have spurred changes at the facility. Last March, after two reports commissioned by the county found lax medical practices at the jail, the county announced a number of changes, including the termination of its contract with its healthcare provider and the installation of cameras in cells.

The Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders last year approved a new contract with ICE, which allows the federal agency to continue housing detainees at the Hudson County Correctional Facility.

The contract is controversial in liberal Hudson County, and the approval of the contract was met by protests by residents. But the agreement is a windfall for the county. Under the terms of the contract, ICE pays the county $120 per day per detainee, with a total average of nearly $2 million a month last year.

In this case, the memo cited “new features in medical (full glass doors) policies and training contributed to thwarting the suicide.”

“The HCC&CR installed full glass doors and updated protocols regarding the way corrections officers and medical staff work together in response to a medical emergency to improve outcomes in situations like this one where an individual in custody is in medical crisis,” Hudson County spokesman James Kennelly said in a statement. “Those policies and the glass doors were implemented/installed over the last 12-14 months.”

Kennelly declined to comment further on the incident, citing privacy concerns and an ongoing investigation.

Nicole Miller, the legal services director for the American Friends Service Committee, an organization that advocates for immigration reform, said immigration detention centers are “rife with abuses and medical neglect.”

In the cases of people fleeing oppression in their home countries, she said, “sending them back may result in persecution, torture, or even death.”

But Edwards noted in his memo that “The actions and quick response from nursing played a huge role in saving this man’s life. Additionally, the collaborative effort with the medical staff and custody was noteworthy.”