The United States is plagued by a countless number of social dilemmas. Although not in constant public scrutiny, suicide is a serious problem which has seemed to have lost importance. When suicide is coupled with arrest and incarceration it becomes an increasingly complex situation. In fact, research indicates that the jail suicide rate ranges from 2.5 to 13 times greater than the rate of the general population (Winkler 1992). Motivation, prediction, and prevention of suicidal behavior are grossly unclear, which only adds to the already existing complexity.Many factors involved with arrest and incarceration only serve as a catalyst of suicidal tendencies. Suicide is the primary cause ...view middle of the document...
Undoubtedly, isolation is often necessary to contain a person, or to prevent injury to the individual and, or other inmates. Individuals who are experiencing obvious mental stress should certainly not be held in isolation for obvious reasons.According to Hess (1983),many facilities have regulations which state,"The action taken must be responsible under the circumstances and represent a good-faith judgment that the action was the least restrictive alternative available."Regulations such as this not only serve as a guideline for officers, but as a preventive measure against legal action as a result of isolation. Aside from these emotional factors of the physical environment which are impetus of suicidal attempts. Isolation cells more often than not tend to have poor lighting, ventilation, and the surroundings are extremely noisy (Winkler 1992). The are minor modifications which can be made to reduce risk. These include removal of bars, sinks, or any other object which may facilitate a suicide attempt (Kunzman 1992).There are certain characteristics of the "act" of jail suicide. The major characteristic which seems to be consistent in almost all cases is that the method used is hanging. In fact, according to Hess(1983), 96% of the [jail] suicides are successfully completed in this fashion and the instruments most often used are clothing, bedding, shoelaces, or belts. This trend is attributed to the fact that other avenues for suicide are not available. In cases which officers are aware of the person's fragile mental state, attempts are made to extinguish the availability of instruments. This is done by stripping the inmate of clothing, and, or accessories.All too often the objects and particularly the mental states are overlooked. Since this does occur, officers now carry the Stephans 9-11 knife which can effectively cut through sheets, bedding, belts, and other material (Winkler 1992).Some other rather interesting statistics have been compiled regarding the jail suicide act in reference to month, day and time in which it is most likely to occur.The majority of inmates commit suicide between the hours of midnight and eight A.M.,usually occurring on a Saturday in the month of September (Winkler 1992). The acts take place at these specific times and days due to the fact that officer super vision is greatly decreased at these intervals. Despite the fact that supervision is so decreased, the victims are usually found within 15 minutes.Research has also been consistent in identifying other typical aspects of the jail suicide. The prominent factors are age, race,, marital status, and type of offense. The person is usually a 22 year old single whit male who has been arrested for an alcohol related offense . Many times an individual who is incarcerated because of a murder offense is automatically placed on suicide watch."The Federal Bureau ofPrisons has warned local jailers that persons held for murder or any other offense involving possible death pena...
