uicide Prevention in Prisons

Suicide is the third leading cause of death in U.S. state and federal prisons, exceeded only by natural causes and AIDS. Comprehensive suicide-prevention programs in prisons are of increasing importance to mental health professionals, correctional administrators, health care providers, legislators, attorneys, and others as they seek to rehabilitate offenders and avoid the multimillion-dollar lawsuits that often arise from inmate suicides.

A comprehensive review of national and international research clearly demonstrates that inmate suicide arises from a complex array of inter-related and self-reinforcing risk factors.

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These risk factors include mental illness, substance abuse, prior serious suicide attempts, chronic stresses of incarceration (i.e., family separation, solitary confinement, intimidation, and victimization), acute psychosocial stressors (i.e., parole setback, death of a loved one, rape), and staff errors or oversights.

Responsibility for suicide prevention in corrections has traditionally been placed squarely on mental health staff. Experience has shown that their efforts may be doomed to failure in the absence of adequate support and involvement of administrators and custodial staff. These correctional employees have joint responsibility for ensuring the health and safety of prison inmates, and they are increasingly held liable, individually and collectively, when they fail in this duty. Best practice in suicide prevention, outlined in the World Health Organization’s updated resource guide,

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calls for a state-of-the-art collaborative effort of administrators, medical and mental health clinicians, and custodial staff to identify at-risk inmates and intervene appropriately.

Please read the above information, as well as the modules on medical/ mental healthcare and suicide and complete the following question in detail:

1. What if any, legal consequences should be imposed on correctional facilities when inmates commit suicide? 

2. Discuss your thoughts related to the following statement: I am unable to afford quality healthcare, so why should inmates be allowed medical, dental, psychiatric care, etc. paid for by my tax dollars?

3. Discuss the benefits and liabilities for inmates and correctional personnel when basic medical/ psychiatric care is provided to inmates. Do you believe the benefit outweighs the cost? Yes or no? Explain your answer.

4. Explain/ discuss the following statement, ” The mental and physical health pains of imprisonment are but a slim reflection of mental and physical illness on a grand scale.”

Please type all answers in Microsoft Word only and submit within this assignment when completed.