Role of Prison Officer in Preventing Suicides

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Suicide can be defined as the act of one person taking away their own life intentionally. Before the late 19th century, in most Western countries suicide was seen as a criminal act. This act is usually considered and reacted to as a psychiatric emergency. Suicide is usually seen as a very common cause of death in prison settings. It is a serious public health concern and it does need attention, but preventing this from occurring is not an easy task to take on. Prison officers and correctional settings supervisors have a responsibility to protect the safety and health of their prisoner’s population, and failing to do this, can be exposed to a legal trial. Suicide in such correctional settings of prison can grab media’s interest, and additional exposure through them can develop into a political scandal. In addition, suicide actions by prison inmates can be seen as a very stressful event for the other inmates as well as the prison officers who are encountered with it. Consequently, the provision of adequate suicide prevention and intervention services is both deemed favourable to the inmate, along with the institute where these services are being introduced to. Brown (1993) defines suicide as ‘the action or an act of intentionally killing oneself’ and attempted suicide is described as ‘a deliberate or ambivalent act of self-destruction or other life-threatening behaviour that does not result in death’. Liebling (2001) discusses how self-harm and suicide have been considered as two individual acts of behaviour with a low correlation with completed suicide. She disputes how the separation is ‘artificial’ and that the causes of self-harm, suicide and attempted suicide are similar and connected with feelings of one being, depressed, sad, in self-doubt and they pursuit to find relief. Liebling (1992, p.20) and Dooley (1990, pp.41–2) claim that half of all completed
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