Suicide Attempts in the District of Columbia Prison System

Abstract

Studies of 46 attempted suicides at two correctional institutions maintained by the District of Columbia Department of Corrections indicate that a jail for inmates awaiting trial or sentencing had a suicide attempt rate of 3.2 per cent, while a reformatory for, long-term inmates had a suicide attempt rate of 1.4 per cent. Attempters at the jail have more disciplinary problems and are facing more serious offenses than a non-suicidal control group. The lethality of the attempt increases with the seriousness of the offense. The reformatory attempters have been incarcerated for shorter periods of time and have shorter minimum sentences than controls at that institution, and the lethality of the attempt increases when there is a history of previous attempts. The reformatory attempters are more apt to have a history of alcoholism than the jail attempt group. Three types of attempters are delineated: 1) depressives make up the greatest numbers, particularly at the jail; 2) manipulative attempts can occur at any time, but are most common when initially incarcerated; 3) anomic attempts occur after long months or years of incarceration.