Psychological Characteristics and Predictors of Suicide Probability in High-Risk Prisoners

Abstract

Suicidal thoughts and behaviors are highly prevalent in prisoners. Nevertheless, there have been scant attempts to understand suicidality in prisoners from a psychological perspective. The goals of this study were to characterize a prison sample at high risk of suicide in terms of hopelessness, defeat, and entrapment, and to determine which of these variables predicted suicidality. A cross-sectional questionnaire design was used. Measures of hopelessness, defeat, entrapment, and suicide probability were administered to male prison inmates in the United Kingdom. Defeat and hopelessness, especially the affective component of hopelessness, predicted the probability of suicide in this sample, but entrapment was not a significant predictor. Suicide risk assessment procedures in prisons tend to be sparse. Such procedures would benefit from using measures of hopelessness and defeat. Future work should aim to understand how the impact of these psychological constructs on suicidality in prisoners can be attenuated.

The integrated motivational–volitional model of suicidal behaviour

“…Additionally, a prospective study found baseline defeat, but not entrapment, predicted suicidal ideation at 12-month follow-up [ 76 ]. The same finding was also reported in a cross-sectional study of prisoners [ 77 ]. These findings may be due to low power, or because defeat and entrapment differ in their longitudinal relationship to suicidal ideation or the assessment of entrapment in prisoners requires closer inspection.…”

The relationship between age and suicidal thoughts and attempted suicide among prisoners

“…Furthermore, given the high lethality of attempts among older individuals, along with the challenges imposed by older individuals' reluctance to express suicidal thoughts, it is especially important to implement routine screening of older prisoners to identify the nature and extent of suicidal risk. This should be done at reception and throughout the individual's sentence (Gooding et al, 2017) using validated instruments (e.g., the Geriatric Suicide Ideation Scale [GSIS], Heisel & Flett, 2016; the Scale for Suicidal Ideation, Beck, Kovacs, & Weissman, 1979). The identification of suicidal risk among older individuals becomes increasingly difficult as it may be somewhat common for thoughts of death to surface as a result of the aging process; however, wishing for death in later life is not an adaptive response to aging and age-related stressors (Van Orden & Conwell, 2016).…”

Attempted Suicide: A Multilevel Examination of Inmate Characteristics and Prison Context

“…From this, it can be gathered that an added threat of personal harm in the prison environment, and the inability to escape this (due to the very nature of prison), can strengthen the effects of hopelessness on attempted suicide. Prison administration should, therefore, be aware of the impact that a victimizing prison milieu can have on those suffering from mental health problems, especially because it has been documented that hopelessness in prison alone is associated with suicidal behavior (Gooding et al, 2017; Marzano, Fazel, et al, 2011; Marzano, Hawton, et al, 2011).…”

“…Marzano, Fazel, et al (2011) further suggest that thoughts of hopelessness and anger/frustration were prominent in the moments immediately preceding near-lethal self-harm. A recent study by Gooding et al (2017) found that defeat and hopelessness, especially a hopeless affect, were significant and positive predictors of suicide probability in a sample of male prisoners. Sarchiapone et al (2009) report similar findings as Marzano, Hawton, et al (2011) when analyzing suicide attempters on aggression, hostility, and depression.…”

“…Prison suicide has rarely been investigated from a point of sociological inquiry (Dye, 2010), which has fostered an underdevelopment of theoretical and methodological explanations for this maladaptive inmate behavior. Although extant studies have examined the role of individual/psychological explanations (e.g., see Blaauw, Kerkhof, & Hayes, 2005; Gooding et al, 2017; Ivanoff, 1992; Ivanoff & Jang, 1991; Kovasznay, Miraglia, Beer, & Way, 2004; Rivlin, Fazel, Marzano, & Hawton, 2012; Sarchiapone et al, 2009; Smith, Selwyn, Wolford-Clevenger, & Mandracchia, 2014; Verona, Hicks, & Patrick, 2005), with some highlighting prison-related explanations (e.g., Bonner, 2006; Daniel & Fleming, 2006; Dooley, 1990; Dye, 2011; Huey & McNulty, 2005; Magaletta, Patry, Wheat, & Bates, 2008; Marzano, Fazel, Rivlin, & Hawton, 2011; Marzano, Hawton, Rivlin, & Fazel, 2011; Sharkey, 2010; Way, Miraglia, Sawyer, Beer, & Eddy, 2005), scant research exists that rigorously examines how inmate characteristics and prison context combine to explain prison suicidal behavior (e.g., Dye, 2010; Dye & Aday, 2013). To that end, the purpose of the current study is to investigate inmate suicidal behavior (i.e., attempted suicide) from a theoretical and methodological perspective that intends to increase insight on the combined importance of inmate characteristics and prison context.…”