Crisis Behind Bars - The Suicidal Inmate - A Book for Police and Correctional Officers

• NCJ Number: 82074
• Author(s): B Danto
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 53 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; Dale Corportation
• Publication Type: Statistics
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

To help jail managers prevent suicide in prisons and jails, the booklet discusses the extent of inmate suicide, presents case studies of jail and prison suicides, describes suicide prevention and program development, and discusses prison architectural techniques used to prevent suicide.

Abstract

Inmates commit suicide due to their social isolation, guilt feelings about their crime, negative effects of their imprisonment on their family, or their inability to adjust to the world. First offenders are particularly prone to suicide. Being a juvenile in an adult facility and a victim of homosexual rape are also stress factors which may end in suicide. Receiving bad news from the family and being denied the opportunity to offer advice or emotional support to the family are other stressors, as are long sentences or other causes of hopelessness about the future. Demonstrated inability to cope with stress, such as having a psychiatric background or previous suicide attempts, is a factor which makes suicide in jail or prison almost predictable. A severe mental illness such as a psychosis is another indicator of potential suicide. Drug and alcohol abusers are prone to suicide, and inmates acting rowdy, boisterous, and combative at the time of arrest should be checked every 15 minutes in the police lockup as they will often commit suicide in the first 2 hours. Although age and marital status seem to be less significant, statistics indicate that young offenders and men between the ages of 22 and 30 are among those who more commonly commit suicide. Those who commit violent crimes and those in isolation cells have higher suicide rates. To prevent inmate suicides, jailers need to be aware of potential suicidal behvior and the methods used by inmates to kill themselves. In addition, television monitoring of celblocks should be provided, unbreakable glass partitions should be developed to replace horizontal locking bars which are often used for hanging, and efforts to lessen crowding in prisons should be emphasized. Jailers need training to know how to communicate and treat depressed inmates. Tables and 39 references are included.