Oh, Ivyblessed, how horrific for you! I'm glad your son is medically all right.

Do you have a lawyer or friends who can help, know the system a little? How old is your son?

You can't blame yourself, like you say, you couldn't catch him before he streaked down the hall. There's no way you could know, even from depressed or upset emails/communications with your son what he was going to do. I think he does trust and care for you or he wouldn't have opened the front door he'd locked? Looks like he does want help and maybe a little time in the prison psych ward will give him time to think and maybe you and he/the system can come up with a better support system for him? If he doesn't have other convictions or hasn't gotten into trouble, it probably will not be too bad (one of my sons was in prison for almost a year and it turned out to be a bit helpful for him, despite all the hassle).

I don't know if this will help? http://www.prisonlaw.com/cases.php