Suicide in New South Wales prisons, 1995-2005: towards a better understanding

Objectives: This paper reports on a review of suicides in New South Wales (NSW) prisons from 1 January 1995 to 31 December 2005 in an attempt to gain a better understanding of the nature and quality of the problem of suicide among prisoners. Method: All deaths in NSW prisons for the period were reviewed. Those identified as self-inflicted, with a coronial finding of death by suicide or those awaiting a coronial hearing but reported as possible death by suicide were included. A data set was collected on each case and entered into a database. Results: A total of 92 cases were identified as deaths by suicide in NSW prisons from 1 January 1995 to 31 December 2005, representing 41% of all deaths in custody for the period. Conclusion: The rate of suicide in NSW prisons has been declining over the past 10 years, but remains approximately 10-fold that of the NSW community. Suicide was the leading cause of death among NSW inmates from 1995 to 2005. Suicide is a rare event, making its prediction a difficult task, with the prison environment a further compounding factor. This review highlights a number of factors, which appear to be common in many cases. Increased monitoring during the first week of incarceration may be an effective intervention. It is recommended that consideration be given to the length of time spent on remand and the value of custodial sentences of <= 6 months.