U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

SUICIDE AMONGST WOMEN PRISONERS

NCJ Number
147147
Journal
Howard Journal Volume: 33 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1994) Pages: 1-9
Author(s)
A Liebling
Date Published
1994
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This analysis of suicide among female inmates in England and Wales notes that the rate of suicide among female inmates is seriously underestimated and that these deaths have devastating effects on families, on the staff who have worked closely with the inmates, and on other inmates.
Abstract
The relatively small numbers of women in prison often leads to the neglect of their specific needs and concerns. Their suicide rate in prison has been increasing. Female inmates talk about family and child-care concerns more often than male prisoners do. Other reasons may also exist for their greater vulnerability in prison; the fact of imprisonment may have a different and more specific impact on women than upon men. However, the subjective, qualitative aspects of the prison experience are rarely studied. Table and 16 references (Author abstract modified)