National study of jail suicide: 20 years later

Abstract

Findings from a national study of jail suicide are provided, including the extent and distribution of suicides in holding and detention facilities, and descriptive data on demographic characteristics of each victim, incident, and facility. Among significant findings are that suicides were evenly distributed from first few days of confinement to over several months of confinement, many suicides occurred during waking hours, most inmates were not under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol at the time of death, and many suicides occurred in close proximity to a court hearing. Suicide prevention programming was found to be uneven in most facilities that experienced suicides. There has been a significant decrease in the rate of suicide in detention facilities.