Incarceration Between Self-Harm And Suicide

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. (2016). A model school policy on suicide prevention: Model language, commentary, and resources. Retrieved from:

Deliberate self-harm is a term that covers a wide range of behaviours some of which are directly related to suicide and some are not. This is a relatively common behaviour that is little understood. This essay provides an overview of the nature and extent of those most at risk of self-harm, including causes and risk factors. Examining some of the stereotyping that surrounds self -harm, and looking at ways in which self-harm can be prevented.

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has published a fact sheet of statistics on suicide in the United States. In 2007, it is reported that suicide was the tenth leading cause of death. Furthermore, for every suicide committed, eleven were attempted. A total of 34,598 deaths occurred from suicide with an overall rate of 11.3 suicide deaths per 100,000 people. (NIMH, 2010). Risk factors were also noted on this report and listed “depression and other mental disorders, or a substance abuse disorder (often in combination with other mental disorders). More than ninety percent of people who die by suicide have these risk factors (NIMH, 2010).”

DuMonthier, Asha. Digital image. Activist Fight to Stop New Youth Jail in Seattle. New America

There is at least 113 suicides each day or 1 every 13 minutes. Suicide among males is the seventh leading cause of death and the fourteenth leading cause in females. Most suicides are with a firearm and are carried out with a “ Saturday night special”. (Dilaura,Cynthia DiLaura) “More than 90 percent of suicide attempts with a gun are fatal. “ (Brady Campaign) There are a number of reasons why suicide occurs. Stress is the number one cause among our youth, bullies, peer pressure, depression, and abuse. 41,100 people committed suicide in the United States in 2013. Our young teens today does not take time to look deeper into there problem and to seek out a better solution. They are looking for a quick fix but not realizing once the trigger is pulled the result is final with no turning back. Most people who has attempted suicide is more likely to try a second attempt and most have an underlying mental illness. There is many warming that someone may be in a suicide crisis. We most learn how to see things through their eyes. No matter what one is facing in life or the difficult that lie ahead of them Nothing is worth taken your own

Criminal justice system has also been linked as a risk factor for suicide. Individuals under criminal justice supervision in the community (e.g., parole, probation) carry an odds ratio for suicide of 1.82 in men and 3.03 in women (Webb et al., 2011). The effects are not just associated with individuals incarcerated but also individuals who have any association with the system. In another study researchers examined the gender and racial differences in suicide attempters and ideators in a high-risk community corrections population (Mccullumsmith et al., 2003). Participants who reported attempting suicide were more likely to be White, female, previously married, have less than a high school education, and a higher chance of living in a shelter

This article, National Study of Jail Suicide: 20 Years Later was written in order to help understand the changes that have taken place and the efforts that have been made over the last two decades on suicide and suicide tendencies with the jail population. The author, Lindsay M. Hayes, proves that over the past 20 years (1985-2006) there have been significant changes made within the jail system and suicide prevention of this special population. Some suicidal traits or indicators have been reduced, while many others have just changed or even increased the risk to suicide, within our jail systems, throughout the country.

In 2010 of April Danarory Countryman of Westchester County Prison did something that an unusually high number of state prison inmates have done, she hanged herself in her cell. Countryman’s suicide was one of 17 in state in state lockups in 2010. During the year of 2010 suicide rates went from 17.8 suicides per 100,000 inmates to 20.7. This is five times more the suicides that have been going on in the recent years. (Parrish1)

As a result of being kept in polity confinement for extensive amounts of time, prisoners begin to feel like they have “nothing left to lose”, thus, participating in self destructive behaviours. According to The Canadian Medical Association Journal, “14 of 30 prison suicide in the

In American jails there is a frightening amount of inmate suicides that occur, and seem to stay under the radar and unspoken about. There are many different contributing factors that can lead to an inmate ultimately choosing to take his or her own life. Being sentenced to jail can be difficult for various inmates to handle and one can have a risk of developing a mental illness if he or she has not already been diagnosed as mentally ill. A mental illness can become a battle with one’s self that some cannot win, and only see darkness ahead. Inmates being confined in jail can lead to a breaking point, which is suicide. Other factors include inmates being stressed out and fearing imprisonment. Jails across the United States have to take initiative regarding inmate suicides or else the suicide rates could increase. Without treatment, awareness, and prevention there will be no improvement in decreasing the amount of inmate suicides. The conversation of inmate suicide has to be had between jail officials, inmates, and society because there is help out there and everyone must know that it is not cowardly to ask for help.

The journal is written about Canadian adolescent's rates regarding suicide evidence in the year of 2014 that goes back to the year 2008 concerning the youth being hospitalized twenty-five percent for a suicide attempt. Then eighteen percent engage in non-suicidal self-harm behaviors in

Additionally, Roberts and Jackson criticize Bonta and Gendreau by contending that their ramifications regarding suicide risk are considerably misrepresented. Bonta and Gendreau 's estimates of suicide risk due to long-term imprisonment are solely founded on suicides perpetrated during confinement (Jackson & Roberts, 1991, p. 559). According to Roberts and Jackson, however, the complication with this is that neither Bonta and Gendreau nor anyone else has studied suicide risk of previous offenders who are no longer in jail (Jackson & Roberts, 1991, p. 559). The qualitative approach that Roberts and Jackson follow here is taking all variables into consideration. Qualitative research involves no ruling out variables and ensuring that they are all considered (Palys, 2014, p. 16). Evidently, Bonta and Gendreau do not employ this qualitative method as they do not deduce that it was imperative to incorporate this variable into their study. Roberts and Jackson also employ the qualitative approach of using verbal reports rather than quantifying responses (Palys, 2014, p. 16). To elucidate,

Incapacitation is defined as “the use of imprisonment or other means to reduce the likelihood that an offender will be capable of committing future offences” (Schmalleger, 2014). Incapacitation in itself is stressful, not to mention all the stressors that are secondary to being locked up. Coping with stress is a major part of life, both in prison and in the real world. How one decides to cope depends largely on personality, previous learnings and experience. One study evaluated the different in coping between prisoner’s who self-harmed and those who did not. Data from this study, suggest that prisoners who had recently self-harmed employed coping strategies that were of lower quality than those employed by prisoners who have never self-harmed in

Self-harm patients are at a risk for suicide whether this is an intended outcome or a result of self-harm gone wrong. 25% of people who commit suicide will have been seen in a hospital setting for a self harm injury in the past 12 months (Emerson, 2010). As well, 72% of suicide victims under the age of 25 have had a history or self-harm behavior (as sited in Cook, Clency, Sanderson, 2004). These statists provide a strong argument for the importance of vigilance and ongoing monitoring when providing care for clients who display self-harm behavior. This paper will argue the importance for close monitoring when caring for self harm but not necessarily the prevention of self harm itself. Vigilance and monitoring are important However there is evidence that complete preventions is not necessarily the best approach to self-harm (Duffin, 2006).