Jail Raises the ‘Risk Factor’ for Inmate Suicides: Study

Photo courtesy Florida Atlantic University

A study by Florida Atlantic University’s College of Social Work and Criminal Justice is the first to examine the risk factors for attempting and threatening suicide and self-harm among jail detainees, reports the FAU News Desk.

Estimates show that there are 80 suicide attempts for every fatal suicide within a correctional facility and about 40 percent of deaths occur within the first seven days of admission to jail.

Results showed that 6.7 percent of the sample, which consisted of 736 males and females incarcerated in a large metropolitan jail in the Midwest, said they had threatened Suicide or Self-Harm (SSH) in jail during the past three months, 4.5 percent said they had attempted SSH in jail during the past year, and 8.4 percent said they had threatened and/or attempted SSH in the past three months or one year, compared to the 0.6 percent rate of attempted suicide in the general population (0.6 percent).

Other results showed that threats and/or attempts of SSH were seven times greater for those in protective custody versus those in the general population; threatening SSH was 61 percent greater for inmates who were in jail for the first time; threatening and/or attempting SSH was 64 percent lower for males versus females.

Moreover, attempting SSH was twice as high as for those with substance dependence issues compared to those without; threatening and/or attempting suicide more than doubled (a 180 percent increase) for each violent incident they witnessed in jail; threatening or attempting SSH more than doubled when individuals were homeless prior to admission; and the odds of threatening SSH were nearly two and a half times greater for individuals who were assaulted by another detainee.

This summary was prepared by Deputy Editor Isidoro Rodriguez