Suicide in Prison

This paper explores the topic of mental health within prisons and how it affects the inmates. The report of my findings were through research of twelve articles, two credible website sources, and a published textbook.

(Winkler 1992). The acts take place at these specific times and days due to the

The United States takes the eleventh spot in the top fifteen causes of death because of suicide. For our youth suicide is the third leading cause of death. In today’s society suicide in our youth is becoming a huge issue. Recently, youth suicide in Delaware has been a concerning topic. With the many suicides that have been taking place; we ask ourselves why is this happening to Delaware’s youth? It’s quite sad reading of all the lives taken at such young ages. It’s still questionable on the real reasons why so much of our youth want to cut their life short. There are numbers of things on why possibly our youth would want to commit suicide. There is one reason that has been proven to be the head cause and that is mental illness. A mental illness refers to a wide range of mental health conditions and disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior. Examples of mental illness includes depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, eating disorders and addictive behaviors. (Staff, 2012) Some other causes may be bullying, drug and alcohol abuse and physical and sexual abuse. Youth that die by suicide believes that suicide is the only option at that moment; however Delaware has several resources available to prevent youth suicide.

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)

Mental illness affects roughly 56 percent of state prison inmates and 64 percent of jail inmates. It is a disorder that interferes with mental cognition involving changed thinking, emotion, behavior, or a combination of both. Several things are thought to be correlated with mental illness among the incarcerated. Some examples include prior life stressors, gender differences, prison life environment, etc (Drapalski et al., 2009; Gosein, Stiffler, Frascoia, & Ford, 2015). In the present paper, the role mental illness plays in the life of incarcerated inmates is investigated. It is hypothesized that individuals diagnosed with a mental illness are more likely to be incarcerated than inmates without a mental

“Although there is limited research on the effects of isolation on incarcerated youth, the existing studies have found that it is correlated with high rates of suicide as well as with post-traumatic stress disorder ("PTSD"), depression, and future criminal activity” (Birckhead, 2015, pg.10). In support Hayes (2009) review of suicide deaths in confinement, almost 70% of youths died by suicide in the juvenile justice system had a history of suicidal behavior, with 45.5% having made a prior suicide attempt. Interviews with many juveniles put in solitary confinement say you can lose your mind and harming themselves or attempt suicide. A juvenile states "It's an awful thing, solitary. . . . It crushes your spirit and weakens your resistance more effectively than any other form of mistreatment" ( Simkins, Beyer, Geis, 2012, pg.250). This quote of a juvenile in confinement shows solitary confinement can literally take away your life and cause

This topic was debated among U.S. courts on the problems it creates for individuals incarcerated and individuals inching closer to release. In a discussion of a case study, it tackles the mental health issues surrounding solitary. It discusses the risk it poses to the mental health of these inmates (Haney, 2003). Some of these individuals will eventually be placed back into the jail population, or even released into the outside world suffering from these mental illnesses and mental traumas that solitary confinement can create. During a study conducted by Stuart Grassian, it is proven that one-third of the prison population, including solitary inmates, suffer from suicidal thoughts and eventually turn crazy (Breslow, 2014). This form of isolation can lead to a psychological impact on cognitive

Despite the valiant efforts health care workers have made, suicide remains the leading cause of deaths in Canadian prisons (Olson, 2012). Prevention and education on how to minimize and stop these unfortunate occurrences from happening is vital. In one article, Olson (2012) talks about how although the prison population does continue to grow, there happens to be a lack of funding, as well as an overall lack of support for this particular group of individuals. It is evident that the needs of the mentally abnormal offender comes as a last priority, as a result of their overall vulnerability, which can easily be exploited in these environments. Because they are criminally guilty individuals who have no freedom and minimal legal protection, they

People in solitary confinement face negative mental and emotional effects from being secluded. People in solitary confinement are more likely to face depression, anxiety and self-harm. “Solitary confinement breaks people. It breaks their spirit and breaks their mind, it does so predictably, and by design, it dehumanizes them, as well as their captors” (Lueders 34). In New York, suicide rates are five times higher among prisoners in solitary confinement than in general population. 60% of

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

The Jail facilities should be implement different procedures in preventing suicides and responding to attempt that may occur. As a result of the high rate of suicide in Jail, every staff member from these facilities should be train in how to interact with this type of inmates. Communication between the Jail stuff about each inmate and the risk that each represent because of previous suicide history are very important. Many inmates don’t even have a previous suicide history; however, this doesn’t mean that are not a high risk to commit suicide. The facilities stuff needs to ensure the safety of each inmate while in custody. One of the main reason of suicide of inmates while are in Jail is the understaff at many facilities. In many facilities

On the surface, America looks like a thriving nation. The stock market is at an all-time high, technology has drastically improved people’s quality of life, and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are finally coming to an end. However, beneath this illustrious veneer lies a country plagued by depression, anxiety, and worst of all, suicide. Suicide “claims more lives than war, murder, and natural disasters combined,” and causes extreme anguish for friends and family who must deal with the aftermath of the tragedy (“Suicide Facts and Figures” para. 1). Some efforts such as the Trevor Project and Yellow Ribbon Week have been made to combat this epidemic, yet unfortunately, society ignores a segment of the population at an alarmingly high risk for self-harm: offenders currently incarcerated in the US justice system, a number totaling more than two million people (Wagner and Bernadette para. 2). Authorities focus on stopping the physical act of a suicide, but not why prisoners feel the need to harm themselves. Aristotle’s theory of virtue ethics gives unique insight on this topic. In short, virtue ethics focuses on developing the whole character of a person instead of only focusing on someone’s actions. The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) must launch a comprehensive justice reform plan based on rehabilitating inmates’ bodies, hearts, and minds to mitigate the suicide crisis faced in prisons across the nation, restore the lives of millions, and save taxpayers money by replacing

This is information from the textbook, which adds to the article. The main relation of this article is about suicide taking place in the United States prisons and how suicides have come to decrease in the last 20-35 years. Suicides is significantly valuable to the family, prisons as well as the officers without the officer's assistants there will be no progression when it comes decreasing suicides. This very much related to administration of

The limitations in prior research inspired the current study which aimed to review research investigating patterns of self-inflicted deaths or suicide among early stage male prisoners and long term prisoners in England and Wales, as well as considering implications for interventions. Eleven English language peer-reviewed studies (2003–2015) met the inclusion criteria. The reviewed papers highlighted particular patterns or factors that are synonymous with suicide among the targeted population. Previous studies suggest that male prison suicide is largely a product of the restrictive prison regime, isolation, and psychiatric illnesses among other factors. Factors that were continuously associated with suicide in prisons among early stage and long term male prisoners highlighted by the current study included psychological factors and substance abuse as the most significant inflictions. Adjustment to prison regime, entrapment and poor social and family support complete the list of major contributory factors to male prison suicides. The only differences between the groups were the frequency of effect of particular factors on decisions to take one’s life. A large number of methodological concerns within these studies were also noted. These included the limitations posed by face to face interviews in some qualitative studies, in which participants could have been dissuaded from admitting that certain issues such as childhood sexual abuse were potential triggers to want to end their

Numerous previous research conducted on prison suicide has mainly focused on the characteristics of the inmates who commit suicide, instead of all the components that leads to the event. Therefore, Dye (2010), asserts that research on prison suicide produce imperative information, “not only about suicide and its prevention, but also about the conditions of prisons in the United States and the effects of these conditions on some of the most vulnerable members of society” (Pg. 796). Moreover, the