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Article: Preventing suicide in jails. (includes related article)
- Article from:
- Corrections Today
- Article date:
- October 1, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 American Correctional Association, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Outside of jails and prisons, suicide is an inevitable, if unfortunate, fact of life. Lester and Danto note that since 1950 the suicide rate in the general population has remained steady at 10-12 per 100,000 per year. The suicide rate in jails, however, is considerably higher. Hayes and Rowan's comprehensive report of 1988 found the average suicide rate in jails nationwide to be 107 per 100,000. In 1992, the suicide rate in New York City jails was 100 per 100,000; in Los Angeles, 25 per 100,000; and in San Diego, 50 per 100,000 (Kunzman 1992).
For those of us who work in jails, suicide is an issue of great concern, not only because someone entrusted to our care and ...