Suicidal Inmates Discussion

Address the Constitutional implications of suicidal inmates based on decisions made in cases such as the Supreme Court Case of Estelle v. Gamble (1976), and Newman v.Alabama (1974).

How have these decisions impacted your policy? Explain.

Revise your policy, if necessary, so that it is in accordance with these Supreme Court case decisions.

How do you distinguish the potential suicide victim who is crying out for help from the manipulative inmate? The manipulative inmate will often threaten or feign suicide in an attempt to get his way, or in court, to bolster his insanity defense or gain sympathy.

Add to your policy by establishing the requirements and protocol for addressing these types of situations.

How does the problem of prison overcrowding impact the issue of inmate suicide from both administration and victim perspectives?

Add to your policy to establish requirements and protocol for addressing suicidal inmates in an overcrowded correctional facility environment.

Be sure to justify your policy modification using academic and scholarly research.

If you have not already done so in Week 4, identify 2 documentation practices that will enhance inmate care and reduce the risk of legal action.

Add to your policy the protocol and best practices regarding these 2 potential issues.

Be sure to reference all sources using APA style.

Revise key assignment out line -3 pages

All together 8-10 pages

Key assignment outline that needs to be revised:

Assignment Outline.

Title:  Prison Suicide and Policies to be Implemented.

Thesis:  The high rates of suicides reported in our prisons call for attention, and necessary measures should be taken to remedy the situation.  There is a need to examine the prevailing conditions in our prisons which contributes to these incidents out of which feasible policies should be formulated to help address the issue.

PART 1. -RESEARCH

I)  Introduction .

The initial intention of setting up prisons was to act as correction centers where convicted criminals would be locked up for some time or permanently depending on the seriousness of their crimes. During this time the inmates would be taken through different programs as seen fit by the prison officials with an agenda of helping the prisoners transform from their criminal life to a disciplined lifestyle. However, it appears this has not been the case due to the rampant suicide incidents reported, and thus the need to conduct a research to unravel what might have gone wrong and provide policies to be used to remedy the situation.

II)  Prevalence of suicide.

–  The research hopes to:

– Establish the percentage rates of suicide incidents annually reported since the tracking process started.

–  Conduct statistical analysis to compare suicide rates between males and females.

– Analysis of prison suicides in state prisons versus federal prisons.

III)   Prisoners

–  The age of suicide victims and their personality.

–  Life history of the prisoners.

–  Family background of the victims.

IV)  Factors contributing to prisoner suicide.

–  overcrowding causing congestion and discomfort among the inmates.

–  Harsh prison officials are possibly harassing and assaulting inmates.

–  Poor mental health  may cause inmates conceive suicidal thoughts .

–  Being imprisoned for the second time after previous lengthy imprisonment  (Liebling, 2002) .

–  Expo sure to bad news from relatives such as death of their loved ones or loss of property.

–  Discussing death issues with fellow inmates  may trigger suicidal thoughts .

–  Inability to adapt to the prevailing prison environment  may cause inmates to feel worthless and hopeless .

–  Ill ness such as HIV/AIDS  (Liebling, 2002) .

V)  Prison officials’ compulsion .

–  They are the immediate personnel to the inmates.

–  They have better prison experience and understands the problems better.

PART 2- POLICY .

VI)  Implementation departments.

–  Alabama correctional department- will enforce the policy governing overcrowding.

–  Arizona correctional department – enforce policies guarding inmates against assault and harassment.

–  Texas Department of criminal justice- implementation of policies addressing the welfare of inmates, health, training, and personal problems.

VII)  Policy

Prisoners have a right to stay peacefully while serving their jail terms and should not be subjected to any stressful condition either by prison officials or fellow inmates (Hayes, 1995) . All inmates are entitled to enroll in various training programs offered in prison freely and are at liberty to make any requests whenever they fill pressed.

Reference.

Liebling, A. (2002).  Suicides in prison . Routledge.

Hayes, L. M. (1995). Prison suicide: An overview and a guide to prevention.  The prison   journal ,  75 (4), 431-456.