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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 3:51 am
Time: 3:51 am
Results for prison suicide
5 results foundAuthor: Pope, Leah G. Title: Creating a Culture of Safety: Sentinel Event Reviews for Suicide and Self-Harm in Correctional Facilities Summary: Since 2011, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), through its Sentinel Events Initiative, has been investigating the feasibility of using a sentinel events approach to review and learn from errors in the criminal justice system such as wrongful convictions, eyewitness misidentifications, or incidents of suicide and self-harm in custody. Recognizing that adverse situations are rarely caused by a single event or the actions of an individual person, NIJ defines a sentinel event as a significant negative outcome that: 1) signals underlying weaknesses in a system or process; 2) is likely the result of compound errors; and 3) may provide, if properly analyzed and addressed, important keys to strengthening the system and preventing future adverse events or outcomes. With funding from NIJ, the Vera Institute of Justice (Vera) has been examining the applicability and appropriateness of using sentinel event reviews for incidents of suicide and serious self-harm in detention. This report focuses on these incidents as prime opportunities to implement sentinel event reviews in the criminal justice context. Details: New York: Vera Institute of Justice, 2017. 33p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 28, 2017 at: https://www.vera.org/publication_downloads/culture-of-safety-sentinel-event-suicide-self-harm-correctional-facilities/culture-of-safety.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://www.vera.org/publication_downloads/culture-of-safety-sentinel-event-suicide-self-harm-correctional-facilities/culture-of-safety.pdf Shelf Number: 141251 Keywords: Mental HealthMental Health ServicesPrison SuicidePrisonersSelf-HarmSuicide |
Author: Great Britain. National Audit Office Title: Mental health in prisons Summary: Government does not know how many people in prison have a mental illness, how much it is spending on mental health in prisons or whether it is achieving its objectives. It is therefore hard to see how Government can be achieving value for money in its efforts to improve the mental health and well being of prisoners. In 2016 there were 40,161 incidents of self-harm in prisons and 120 self-inflicted deaths. Government does not know how many people in prison have a mental illness, how much it is spending on mental health in prisons or whether it is achieving its objectives. It is therefore hard to see how Government can be achieving value for money in its efforts to improve the mental health and well being of prisoners, according to a report by the National Audit Office. Her Majesty's Prisons and Probation Service (HMPPS), NHS England and Public Health England have set ambitious objectives for providing mental health services but do not collect enough or good enough data to understand whether they are meeting them. Rates of self-inflicted deaths and self-harm in prison have risen significantly in the last five years, suggesting that mental health and well-being in prison has declined. Self-harm rose by 73% between 2012 and 2016. In 2016 there were 40,161 incidents of self-harm in prisons, the equivalent of one incident for every two prisoners. While in 2016 there were 120 self-inflicted deaths in prison, almost twice the number in 2012, and the highest year on record. Government needs to address the rising rates of suicide and self harm in prisons as a matter of urgency. In 2016, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman found that 70% of prisoners who had committed suicide between 2012 and 2014 had mental health needs. The Ministry of Justice and its partners have undertaken work to identify interventions to reduce suicide and self-harm in prisons, though these have not yet been implemented. While NHS England uses health needs assessments to understand need these are often based on what was provided in previous years, and do not take account of unmet need. The NAO estimate that the total spend on healthcare in adult prisons, in 2016-17 was around $400 million. HMPPS does not monitor the quality of healthcare it pays for in the six privately-managed prisons it oversees. The prison system is under considerable pressure, making it more difficult to manage prisoners' mental well-being, though government has set out an ambitious reform programme to address this. NOMS' (National Offender Management Service) funding reduced by 13% between 2009-10 and 2016-17, and staff numbers in public prisons reduced by 30% over the same period. When prisons are short-staffed, governors may run restricted regimes where prisoners spend more of the day in their cells, making it more challenging for prisoners to access mental health services. Staffing pressures can make it difficult for prison officers to detect changes in a prisoner's mental health and officers have not received regular training to understand mental health conditions, though the Ministry plans to provide more training in future. In addition, NOMS did not always give NHS England enough notice when it has made changes to the prison estate. For example at Downview Prison NHS England was in the process of commissioning health services for a male prison, when NOMS decide to open it as a female prison instead. When NAO visited six months after it opened, the prison was still in the process of developing a healthcare service that could meet the needs of the female population. The challenges of delivering healthcare are compounded by the ageing prison estate, over a quarter of which was built before 1900 and without modern healthcare in mind. The Ministry has a programme to replace the ageing estate with modern buildings. While clinical care is broadly judged to be good, there are weaknesses in the system for identifying prisoners who need mental health services. Prisoners are screened when they arrive in prison, but this does not always identify mental health problems and staff do not have access to GP records, which means they do not always know if a prisoner has been diagnosed with a mental illness. NHS England is in the process of linking prison health records to GP records to address this. Mentally ill prisoners should wait no more than 14 days to be admitted to a secure hospital, but only 34% of prisoners were transferred within 14 days in 2016-17 while 7% (76) waited for more than 140 days. The process for transferring prisoners is complex and delays can have a negative impact on prisoners' mental health and they may be kept in unsuitable conditions such as segregation units Details: London: NAO, 2017. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed july 29, 2017 at: https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Mental-health-in-prisons.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Mental-health-in-prisons.pdf Shelf Number: 146617 Keywords: Health ServicesMental Health ServicesMentally Ill InmatesMentally Ill OffendersMentally Ill PrisonersPrison Suicide |
Author: Harrison, Poppy Elizabeth Title: Assessing the harm inside: a study contextualising boys' self-harm in custody Summary: Concerns about suicide and self-harm in English prisons are not new (Third report of the commissioners of prisons, 1880, cited in Liebling, 1992). However, a distinct system of intervention and custody for children (as established by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998) is relatively modern, and as such contextual studies about self-harm have largely, to date, overlooked children as a discrete group existing within a separate framework from adults. Similarly, large-scale research exploring self-harm among children in community settings has largely excluded the group of marginalised young people who come to the attention of youth justice services. This study presents a unique analysis of 181 youth justice assessments ('Assets') for boys who were remanded or sentenced to custody in under-18 Young Offender Institutions during 2014-15, tracing the subjects of the assessments from the communities they offended in through to a period in custody, using incident reports completed whilst they were there. What results is a contextual study examining the characteristics of the boys and their behaviour in custody. The study considers two central hypotheses: first, that to result in meaningful and supportive interventions, a definition of self-harm among the boys in the research sample often needs to include the harm they have done to their own lives (what the middle classes might call their 'prospects') through offending, and, second, that children who display the common traits of self-harming behaviour in custody may be identifiable by a different set of characteristics and needs from those who self-harm in the community. The author concludes that there is a previously undefined set of risk factors which can be applied to children who self-harm in custody for the first time, moving beyond the known risks associated with adolescent self-harm in the general population. Furthermore, it is found that boys who self-harm in custody are often doing so to exercise agency in an environment where they have very limited power, in circumstances defined not only by the restriction of liberty they are experiencing, but by the difficulties they experienced before coming to custody. Recommendations are made as to how policy-makers, through the current reforms to the youth justice system and a revised approach to assessments upon entry to custody, and practitioners, through increased awareness and improved recording of children's views can more appropriately intervene in these boys' lives to benefit them and society more widely. Details: Luton, UK: University of Bedfordshire, 2016. 259p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed May 21, 2018 at: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/77614088.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/77614088.pdf Shelf Number: 150280 Keywords: Deaths in CustodyJuvenile DetentionPrison SuicideSuicideYouth Custody |
Author: Gannoni, Alexandra Title: Indigenous deaths in custody: 25 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Summary: Twenty-five years has passed since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC). This paper examines the trends and characteristics of Indigenous deaths in custody since 1991-92, using data obtained through the National Deaths in Custody Program (NDICP). NDICP data show Indigenous people are now less likely than non-Indigenous people to die in prison custody, largely due to a decrease in the death rate of Indigenous prisoners from 1999-2000 to 2005-06. Coinciding with this decrease in the death rate of Indigenous prisoners is a decrease in the hanging death rate of Indigenous prisoners. Monitoring trends and characteristics of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous deaths in custody supports the development of proactive strategies addressing this important issue. Details: Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2019. 15p. Source: Internet Resource: Statistical Bulletin 17: Accessed May 7, 1029 at: https://aic.gov.au/publications/sb/sb17 Year: 2019 Country: Australia URL: https://aic.gov.au/publications/sb/sb17 Shelf Number: 155676 Keywords: Aboriginals Deaths in Custody Indigenous Peoples Indigenous Prisoners Inmate Deaths Prison SuicidePrisoners |
Author: Howard, Flora Fitzalan Title: Learning to cope: an exploratory qualitative study of the experience of men who have desisted from self-harm in prison Summary: This study aimed to develop the evidence base for what helps people to stop harming themselves in custody, and in doing so help to inform effective ways for prison managers and staff to respond to the rise in self-harm incidents and provide appropriate, helpful care. Understanding the experiences of people who have successfully learned to cope differently and refrain from harming themselves can helpfully inform methods or strategies to tackle this problem. This in-depth qualitative study asked how men in prison, who have previously self-harmed but do so no longer, describe the experience of learning to manage their self-harming? What helped or hindered the change process? What is their desistance story? Details: London: Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service, 2019. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Ministry of Justice Analytical Series, May 10, 2019 at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/794267/learning-cope-self-harm_in_prison-research.pdf Year: 2019 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/794267/learning-cope-self-harm_in_prison-research.pdf Shelf Number: 155737 Keywords: Male Inmates Male Prisons Prison SuicideSelf-Harm |