Recently released prisoners at high risk of suicide
July 2006Professor Jenny Shaw of the School of Medicine's Division of Psychiatry has found that recently released prisoners are at a much greater risk of suicide than the general population, in a study published in this week's Lancet. The study is one of the first to look at suicide trends after release from prison.
Professor Shaw, who is based at Ashworth hospital and the academic lead for prison mental-health care in the Northwest Forensic Academic Network, used a national database to identify individuals in England and Wales who had died by suicide or received an open verdict at a coroner's inquest between 2000 and 2002.
The team then identified which of these suicides were by people within one year of release from prison, and found that in 244,988 released prisoners, 382 suicides (34 women, 348 men) had occurred.
Higher rate in women
Suicide rates between recently released women and men were similar, but the relative risk in women was substantially higher than in men compared with the general population. Recently released men were eight times, and women 36 times, more likely to commit suicide within a year of release than would be expected of their counterparts in the general population.The team also found that the risk was particularly high during the first 28 days, during which about a fifth of suicides occurred. They concluded that insufficient continuity of care for those with mental-health problems and difficulties finding employment and accommodation on release may contribute towards the higher suicide risk.
Professor Shaw said: "The risk of suicide in recently released prisoners is approaching the level seen in discharged psychiatric patients. Our findings highlight the need for shared responsibility by prisons and probation, health, and community services to provide good quality, integrated, mental-health care and social support for prisoners, both before and after release."
