Citation

Rabe K. Int. J. Law Psychiatry 2012; 35(3): 222-230.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ijlp.2012.02.012

PMID

22445577

Abstract

Suicide presents a major complication during imprisonment and greatly contributes to the high mortality rate of prisoners. All international studies have found increased suicide rates among prisoners compared to the general population. This study examines risk factors for suicide and mortality in prisoners using supranational data from the Council of Europe Annual Penal Statistics (Statistiques Penales Annuelles du Conseil du L'Europe or SPACE) from 1997 to 2008. Macrostructural risk factors for prison suicide are analyzed from this supranational data set and the identified indicators are further evaluated on the single country level. Sexual offenders, offenders charged with violent crimes and prisoners sentenced for short- and long-term imprisonment are considered to be at an elevated risk for suicide. In addition, prison mortality is associated with overcrowding.

Language: en