Taking away his clothes and giving him the peper gown, I thought, was a little harsh, until I started reading up on it.  The rationale was that the gowns are designed to not be able to be made into a rope or other implement with which the inmate could strangle himself.  The paper is too weak to stand up to the kind of stress imposed by use as a noose or garrotte.  And, that's intentional - jailhouse suicides using clothes are probably as old as jailhouses.  

Taking away the mattress was justified because empirical evidence shows it's either (A) rammed down the toilet or (B) used to block view of the video camera or cell door's window while the prisoner tries to off himself.

The prisoner in question was really put out, because (a) no mattress meant the video monitor (actually being monitored, too) caught him winding his gown into a rope and looking for a place to tie off (leading to an "intervention" by staff) and (b) when he thought he had a good-enough rope made from his gown, it started tearing and was useless as a rope (or as clothing).

In the case of the AUSA who killed himself, I am left to wonder why it was that he was able to fashion a rope from whatever it was he was able to use.  It's not like his attempting suicide was a "surprise" - he was on suicide watch.

Similarly, I am left to wonder why it was he was allowed to be unobserved for long enough to not only die from suicide, but also long enough to take the time to fashion whatever implements he used to kill himself.  It takes time to make a rope, and it gets a little hard to explain if the guard stops by (or looks in on video) and sees you sitting naked and your clothes winding into rope....