Prisoner Suicides Reconsidered

• NCJ Number: 72335
• Journal: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry Volume: 2 Issue: 3 Dated: (1979) Pages: 407-413
• Author(s): B E Burtch
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 7 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom
• Note: Abridged version of a larger study, by B Burtch and R Ericson, titled the Silent System - An Inquiry Into Prisoners Who Suicide

Annotation

A study of suicide in four maximum security penitentiaries revealed an inordinately high incidence of suicide when compared with the general population; a differential remained even after adjustment for the fact that suicides are less apt to be disguised as accidental rates in prisons.

Abstract

An empirical study was conducted of 96 inmate suicides in 4 maximum security penitentiaries in Canada between 1959 and 1975. Details were obtained from inmate dossiers, and computerized information on 1,383 maximum security inmates was used for baseline comparisons between suiciding and nonsuiciding inmates. Suicides generally involved younger, unmarried males, the majority of whom hung themselves with standard-issue material. While violent offenders were not demonstrably suicide-prone, inmates with extensive psychiatric histories appeared highly prone to suicide. Suicides often occurred in segregation settings and clinical areas and were most frequent during the early stage of confinement. Yet none of these findings were significant enough to enable accurate prediction of suicidal persons, suggesting that future research and development activities should pay less attention to suicide prediction and more to prevention strategies for distressed inmates. Exploratory research on custodial, clinical, and inmate perceptions of suicide prevention would be welcome. Studies on the coordination of prison services in tandem with more searching investigative techniques following fatal suicide attempts may add substantially to general knowledge. Administrators must recognize that while the incidence of prison suicide has been unconscionably high, coherent policies on suicide intervention have rarely been formulated. Overall, prisoner suicides have until recently been neglected by scientists, policymakers, and the citizenry-at-large. Eight footnotes are provided. (Author abstract modified)