Marcus P, Alcabes P
Department of Psychiatry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY.
Hosp Community Psychiatry. 1993 Mar;44(3):256-61. doi: 10.1176/ps.44.3.256.
The authors' goals were to describe the characteristics of suicides committed by inmates in custody of the New York City Department of Correction between 1980 and 1988.
Data on suicides were collected 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 authors 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 three days of a court appearance. More than 90 percent of suicides were by hanging. Ninety-one percent of suicides took place 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 potential suicidality 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.
作者的目标是描述1980年至1988年期间纽约市惩教部羁押的囚犯自杀的特征。
自杀数据收集自监狱卫生服务记录、市法医办公室、市监狱死亡审查委员会的记录，以及纽约州惩教委员会的报告和其他文件。
作者在研究期间确定了48起囚犯自杀事件。42%的自杀事件发生在监禁的头30天内，50%发生在出庭后的三天内。超过90%的自杀是通过上吊。91%的自杀发生在囚犯单独关押的牢房里。52%自杀的囚犯有重大精神疾病诊断，46%有住院或门诊精神科护理史。
作者建议识别所有有精神病史或有自杀倾向的囚犯，并在其被监禁期间与持续的心理健康服务建立联系，绝不让有潜在自杀倾向的囚犯单独关押在牢房里，惩教人员应接受培训，以识别有潜在自我毁灭倾向的囚犯并预防自杀。
