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Between 2000 and 2021, there were 29 711 reported suicides during 91·2 million person-years of imprisonment in 82 jurisdictions worldwide (sex-specific data available for 13 289 individuals: 12 544 [94·4%] male and 745 [5·6%] female individuals).
This updated systematic review and meta-analysis was based on 35 351 suicides among people in prison from 77 studies in 27 countries, and synthesised risk factors for suicide by clinical, criminological, demographic, and institutional domains.
Many countries in northern and western Europe have prison suicide rates of more than 100 per 100 000 prisoners per year. Individual-level information about prisoner health is required to understand the substantial variations reported and changes over time.
Highlights. From 2001 to 2019, the number of suicides increased 85% in state prisons, 61% in federal prisons, and 13% in local jails. During 2010-19, suffocation, including hanging and self-strangulation, accounted for nearly 90% of suicide deaths in local jails.
Suicide is a threat to all persons involved in corrections. The rates of inmate suicide are far higher than the national averages, and even higher still for special populations (including juvenile and LGBTI inmates), even corrections officers have a much greater occupational suicide rate.
We examined prison suicide rates in countries where reliable information was available, associations with a range of prison-service and health-service related factors, how these rates compared with the general population, and changes over the past decade.
Results: Suicide accounted for about 10% of all deaths in the Norwegian prison population and was the leading cause of death in prison (53% of in deaths in prison). The CMR per 100,000 person years for in-prison suicides was 133.8 (CI 100.5-167.1) and was ten times higher (CMR = 1535.0, CI 397.9-2672.2) on day one of incarceration.
