Citation

Power KG, Moodie E. Arch. Suicide Res. 1997; 3(2): 109-123.

Affiliation

Power, K.G., Anxiety and Stress Research Centre, Department of Psychology, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, United Kingdom

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, International Academy of Suicide Research, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/13811119708258262

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study provides data on the characteristics and management: of all prisoners identified at risk of suicidal behaviour over a 12 month period in all Scottish prisons; From a total of 44,093 admissions, 1,984 (4.5%) prisoners were identified at time of reception as 'at risk' while 857 (1.9%) inmates were classified as 'at risk' at some other point during custody. Of those identified 'at risk' at time of reception, 19.1% were retained on suicidal supervision, while 58.2% of those identified 'at risk' during custody were maintained on some form of suicidal supervision. Average length of time kept on strict suicidal supervision for those identified at time of reception was 1.87 days, and for those identified at some other point during custody was 2.59 days. Results are discussed in relation to the problems associated with suicide prediction and prevention in prison settings and the tendency for risk assessment to create significant numbers of false positives at time of reception.