McKee G R
William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute, Columbia, SC, USA.
Psychol Rep. 1998 Apr;82(2):611-4. doi: 10.2466/pr0.1998.82.2.611.
The rate of suicide in jails has been found to be 11 to 14 times greater than suicide within the general population. The purpose of the present study is to compare the demographic, offense, and situational characteristics of 665 adult male and 89 female jail inmates who attempted suicide by either hanging (lethal) or wrist or arm-cutting (nonlethal). Hanging attempts occurred at twice the rate of cutting attempts. Further, the mortality rate of inmates' attempts by hanging (52 deaths in 602 attempts) was 19 times greater than inmates who cut themselves (1 death in 275 attempts). Of all hanging suicide deaths 63% occurred on the inmate's first day of jail. The inmate's race, condition at arrest, hours after booking, type of charge, and size of jail differentiated lethal from nonlethal suicide attempts. Implications of these data for assessment of jail suicide risk and prevention are discussed.
监狱中的自杀率已被发现比普通人群中的自杀率高出11至14倍。本研究的目的是比较665名成年男性和89名成年女性监狱囚犯的人口统计学、犯罪和情境特征，这些囚犯通过上吊（致命）或割腕或割臂（非致命）试图自杀。上吊企图的发生率是割伤企图的两倍。此外，囚犯上吊企图的死亡率（602次企图中有52人死亡）比割伤自己的囚犯（275次企图中有1人死亡）高出19倍。在所有上吊自杀死亡案例中，63%发生在囚犯入狱的第一天。囚犯的种族、被捕时的状况、登记后的小时数、指控类型和监狱规模区分了致命和非致命的自杀企图。讨论了这些数据对评估监狱自杀风险和预防的意义。
