Citation

Krell KM, Heide S, Lessig R, Stiller D. Rechtsmedizin 2022; 32(2): 97-103.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00194-022-00556-2

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Deaths in prisons often stimulate a broad interest of the public and speculation about the exact circumstances of death are frequent. A systematic and scientific analysis of deaths in prisons in Saxony-Anhalt has so far not been carried out.

OBJECTIVE: A systematic investigation of such deaths and a forensic medical analysis of the individual type and cause of death were carried out. The focus was on a standardized case analysis, the identification of risk profiles and conclusions with respect to health care and prevention of suicide. Material and methods: All autopsies carried out between 1992 and 2015 at the Institute of Legal Medicine of the University Hospital in Halle and the present branch office in Magdeburg were included. In the prisons 85 deaths were identified and the case files were examined. The details were fed into a Microsoft Access 2010 database based on the national and international literature. The collation of data from the total population in the prisons for comparative purposes was prevented due to data protection concerns.

RESULTS and conclusion: The type and cause of death could be clarified in all cases in the final evaluation through the step-by-step forensic medical analysis. The analysis also highlighted severe deficits in the initial external examination of the corpse (in particular an inadequate basis for assessment of the circumstances of death and estimation of the time of death) so that these examinations should be performed by a specialist forensic consultant in the future. Non-natural deaths were predominant occurring in two thirds of the cases and most were suicide through hanging. The remaining third were natural deaths with predominantly a cardiovascular cause of death. © 2022, The Author(s).

Language: de

Keywords

human; suicide; Suicide; Risk assessment; Autopsy; autopsy; cause of death; forensic medicine; hanging; cadaver; death; data base; consultation; time of death; detention; Article; Type of death; correctional facility; Detention suitability