The rate of suicide among male prisoners in Scotland has
decreased, especially among the youngest men, according to a new
study.
This reduction is believed to be due to initiatives undertaken
by the Scottish Prison Service to identify suicide risk and improve
prisoners’ quality of life, among other things.
The aim of the study, published in the June 2008 issue of the
British Journal of Psychiatry, was to estimate the expected number
of male suicides in Scottish prisons between 1994 and 2003, having
taken into account prisoners’ age, and dependency on opioid drugs,
such as heroin. In general, people who are opioid-dependent have a
10-times greater risk of suicide.
Between 1994 and 1998 there were 100 male deaths in legal
(prison) custody, for eight of whom cause of death was not
detailed. 57 of the deaths were known suicides, significantly
exceeding age and opioid-adjusted expectation of 41.
Between 1999 and 2003 there were 92 deaths in legal custody.
They included 51 by suicide, a number consistent with age and
opioid-adjusted expectation for 1999-2003 (consistency limit: below
54).
Between 1994 and 2003, the total number of suicides by 15- to
24-year-old male prisoners (40) was nearly twice the number
expected even after allowance for opioid-related risk. 80% of
suicides by male prisoners aged 15-24 in Scotland were among young
men on remand or who were untried.
Male prisoners in this young age group are clearly
vulnerable.
The Scottish Prison Service has tackled the problem in several
ways: by addressing how addictions, and the identifying of suicide
risk, are dealt with when men are taken into prison; and by
remedying deficiencies in younger prisoners’ induction, and their
lack of activities or occupation on remand.
Mental health nurses now conduct the suicide risk assessment on
reception into prison. In-cell television was installed in 2000.
And, the proportion of (around 7000) prisoners testing positive for
methadone in random mandatory drug tests has increased from 1% in
2002-2003 to 9% in 2003-2004 and 14% in 2004-2005, as the Scottish
Prison Service’s new methadone maintenance policy took hold.
Against the above progressive backdrop, male suicides by 15- to
24-year-olds were 3+0+2+2 in 2002 to 2005, against a 4-year
expectation of 9.
The researchers comment that the exceptional vulnerability to
suicide of the youngest age group of prisoners may thus have been
redressed in Scotland.
The Scottish Prison Service’s attention should now turn to its
male prisoners aged 45 and over, whose excess suicides (13 in
1994-2003 versus age and opioid-related expectation of only 2) may
have different causes.
For further information, please contact Liz Fox or Deborah
Hart in the Communications Department.
Telephone: 020 7235 2351 Extensions. 6298 or 6127
References:
Bird S M (2008) Changes in male suicides in Scottish prisons: 10-year study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 192, 446-449.