NCJ Number
146419
Journal
Hospital and Community Psychiatry Volume: 44 Issue: 3 Dated: (March 1993) Pages: 256-261
Date Published
1993
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article describes the characteristics of suicides committed by inmates of the New York City Department of Correction between 1980 and 1988.
Abstract
Researchers collected data on suicides from records of the jail health services, the municipal medical examiner's office, and the city's prison death review board, as well as from reports of the New York State Commission of Correction and other documents. The researchers identified 48 suicides committed by inmates during the study period. Forty-two percent of the suicides occurred within the first 30 days of incarceration, and 50 percent occurred within 3 days of a court appearance. More than 90 percent of suicides were by hanging. Ninety-one percent of suicides occurred in cells in which the inmate was housed alone. Fifty-two percent of the inmates who committed suicide had a major psychiatric diagnosis, and 46 percent had a history of inpatient or outpatient psychiatric care. The authors recommend that all inmates with a psychiatric history or suicidal tendencies be identified and linked with ongoing mental health services while incarcerated, that potentially suicidal inmates never be housed alone in a cell, and that correctional staff be trained to recognize potentially self-destructive inmates and to prevent suicide. 2 tables and 16 references