Suicide in Prisons
A topic I found very interesting in this course was Suicide (Lesson 4.3). In this lesson, we learn how suicide is ‘an issue of great importance’ and that it is the ‘leading cause of death in jails and prisons’ (Rousseau, 2018). My goal for this blog is to provide a further explanation on this topic and to see what else has been discovered on this topic. First off, we know that suicide is a serious health problem. It has been seen that the ‘World Health Organization estimates that one suicide attempt occurs approximately every three seconds, and one completed suicide occurs approximately every minute’ (World Health Organization, 2007).
Seena Fazel further researched suicide in prisons and did an international study of suicides in prisons as well as the contributory factors. In her study, it was seen that ‘prison suicide is an international problem, and rates of suicide in prisoners are higher than in general populations’ (Fazel, 2017). Fazel also states that ‘a clearer understanding of factors explaining the elevated risks can assist in suicide prevention initiatives’ (Fazel, 2017). This is very important because prison suicides are clearly an issue and any ideas or suggestions that can help prevent them should be welcomed. Fazel therefore obtained data from 24 different countries and collected statistics in regards to prison suicides and deaths. She also tested a number of ecological prison variables that could have been suicide risk factors. These risk factors included incarceration rates, rates of overcrowding, ratios of prisoners to prison staff and prison population turnover ratios. Fazel’s overall findings state that ‘there are no simple ecological explanations for prison suicide. Rather, it is likely to be due to complex interactions between individual-level and ecological factors.
Thus, suicide prevention initiatives need to draw on multidisciplinary approaches that address all parts of the criminal justice system and address individual and system-level risk factors’ (Fazel, 2017). This is very interesting because it was determined that there are multiple factors working together as to why one would commit suicides in prison. Therefore, multiple steps must be taken in order to ensure that individuals are getting the help that they need in prison. It has been seen that suicide prevention is challenging because one needs to identify the individuals that are ‘most vulnerable, under which circumstances, and then effectively intervene’ (World Health Organization, 2007). The World Health Organization launched an initiative in hopes to provide reasoning for why inmates commit suicides and how this can be prevented. The World Health Organization states the same thing that Fazel states in that a combination of individual and environmental factors can explain the high rates of suicide in prisons. One of the first factors is that prisoners tend be at risk individuals who are vulnerable. They have mental disorders, or have substance abuse problems and are socially disenfranchised. Following this factor, the psychological impact of getting arrested and being incarcerated affect these individuals by causing them more stress therefore making them more vulnerable. Another factor is that some places have no formal procedures or policies to identify individuals that are at risk. Even if there are places with formal procedures and policies, corrections staff may miss warning signs of suicide risk. One last factor is that there might not be any mental health programs in these correction facilities therefore these individuals have no access to help or treatments. These factors should all be taken into consideration when coming up with a plan or program to try and attempt to decrease the risk of suicides in inmates.
In terms of what can generally be done, first and foremost, it would be essential to have some sort of suicide prevention program set up. In this program, training would be very important. All correctional staff, health care and mental health care staff should be involved. Another factor of this program should be intake screening. Suicide screening should be done often for all inmates. Following this, post-intake observation should take place. Inmates should be observed for any warning signs. After this, management following screening should be conducted where follow up reports and observation notes are taken down. This includes monitoring inmates, watching their communication, social skills and how they are reacting to their environment should be looked at. Mental health treatment should be given to those that do pose a risk. If a suicide attempt or a suicide occurs, a debrief should take place and the program should be altered to account for why that event occurred in hopes that it never happens again. It has been seen that corrections facilities continue to try and improve the policies and procedures already set in place. With more research, corrections facilities can continue to improve on the systems that they already have set in place in order so that the risk of suicides for inmates decrease.
Fazel, S. (2017). Suicide in prisons: an international study of prevalence and contributory factors. The Lancet Psychiatry. Vol 4 (12).
Rousseau, D. (2018). Module 4. Retrieved from: https://onlinecampus.bu.edu
World Health Organization (2007). Preventing Suicide in Jails and Prisons. Retrieved from: https://www.who.int