Suicide and Self-Harm in Prisons and Jails

The second edition of Suicide and Self-Harm in Prisons and Jails provides a comprehensive exploration of how the stress associated with arrest, sentencing, and incarcerated life can contribute to the onset of a suicidal crisis even among those who never before experienced suicidal ideation or self-harmed. Using the most recent prison and jail suicide data available Christine Tartaro discuses prison and jail administrations’ efforts to curtail the use of restrictive housing for inmates with mental illness, more recent suicide screening forms for incarcerated populations, therapeutic options for working with inmates in crisis, appropriate monitoring of people in danger of self-harm, and situational and environmental prevention tactics. Tartaro also provides examples of ways to structure and implement diversion and transition planning programs to improve the odds of facilitating offenders’ successful integration into the community and reduce communities’ reliance on jails to house and treat people who suffer from mental illness.