National Suicide Research Foundation, Irish Prison Service. (2020) Self-harm in Irish prisons 2018. Second report from the Self-Harm Assessment and Data Analysis (SADA) project. Cork: National Suicide Research Foundation.
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- This is the second annual report on all recorded episodes of self-harm by individuals in the custody of the Irish Prison Service. The report provides data from all prisons in the Republic of Ireland in 2018 arising from the Self-Harm Assessment and Data Analysis (SADA) Project.
Main findings:
- Between 01 January and 31 December 2018, there were 263 episodes of self-harm recorded in Irish Prisons, involving 147 individuals. There were 223 episodes of self-harm by 138 individuals in 2017. Thus, the number of self-harm episodes was 18% higher in 2018 than in 2017 and the number of persons involved increased by 7%. The overall prison population also increased by 7% between 2017 (n=3,427) and 2018 (n=3,690). Therefore, the annual person-based rate of self-harm in 2018, at 4.0 per 100 prisoners, was identical to the rate recorded in 2017. Thus, an episode of self-harm was recorded for 4% of the prison population.
- The majority of prisoners who engaged in self-harm were male (n=121; 82.3%) but taking into account the male prison population, their rate of self-harm was 3.4 per 100. Twenty-six female prisoners engaged in self-harm in 2018 equating to a rate of 19.3 per 100, which is 5.7 times higher than the rate among male prisoners.
- The rate of self-harm was higher among prisoners on remand than those sentenced (5.0 versus 3.7 per 100) though by a smaller margin than reported for 2017 when the rate of self-harm among prisoners on remand was 7.4 per 100 and the rate among sentenced prisoners was 3.1 per 100.
- The rate of self-harm was highest among prisoners aged 18-29 years. The rate of self-harm among prisoners in this age group was 40% higher than in 2017 (7.4 versus 5.3 per 100). Across all age groups, the rate of self-harm was higher among female prisoners.
- Almost half of all self-harm incidents (44%) occurred between 2pm and 8pm. Most episodes (60%) occurred while prisoners were unlocked from cells.
- One-third (32.7%) of individuals engaged in self-harm more than once during the calendar year. This was more pronounced for female prisoners – 29.8% of male prisoners repeated self-harm (36 out of 121 individuals) compared with 46.2% of female prisoners (12 out of 26 individuals). Two individuals engaged in self-harm more than ten times in 2018.
- The most common method of self-harm recorded was self-cutting or scratching, present in 69% of all episodes. The other common method of self-harm was attempted hanging, involved in 20% of episodes.
- In line with 2017 figures, three-quarters (73%) of self-harm episodes involved prisoners in single cell accommodation. Considering the overall prison population, 51.9% were accommodated in single cells in 2018. Forty-four percent of prisoners who engaged in self-harm were in general population accommodation and a further 37% were on protection (including Rule 62 and 63) at the time of the self-harm act.
- For more than one quarter (27%) of episodes, no medical treatment was required. Over half (59%) required minimal intervention or local wound management in the prison and one in eight (12%) required hospital outpatient or accident and emergency department treatment. Self-harm episodes by male prisoners were associated with increased severity – 87.4% of male prisoners who self-harmed required some medical treatment compared with 30.8% of female prisoners.
- Over two-thirds (70%) of self-harm episodes were recorded as having no / low degree of suicidal intent. Seventeen per cent of episodes were recorded as having medium intent and approximately one in eight (13%) were deemed to have a high degree of suicidal intent.
- There was a range of contributory factors associated with the episodes of self-harm recorded, relating to environmental, relational, procedural, medical and mental health factors. The majority (45.6%) of factors related to mental health issues, 32.7% to environmental issues and 22.1% to relational issues.
Item Type
Report
Publication Type
Irish-related, Report
Drug Type
All substances
Intervention Type
Harm reduction
Date
July 2020
Pages
37 p.
Publisher
National Suicide Research Foundation
Corporate Creators
National Suicide Research Foundation, Irish Prison Service
Place of Publication
Cork
EndNote
Related (external) link
Subjects
A Substance use and dependence > Prevalence > Substance use behaviour
B Substances > Alcohol
F Concepts in psychology > Behaviour > Self-destructive behaviour / self-harm
F Concepts in psychology > Behaviour > Self-destructive behaviour / self-harm > Suicidal behaviour / suicide
J Health care, prevention, harm reduction and treatment > Risk and protective factors > Risk factors
J Health care, prevention, harm reduction and treatment > Harm reduction > Substance use harm reduction
J Health care, prevention, harm reduction and treatment > Health care programme, service or facility > Prison-based health service
MM-MO Crime and law > Justice system > Correctional system and facility > Prison
T Demographic characteristics > Person in prison (prisoner)
VA Geographic area > Europe > Ireland
B Substances > Alcohol
F Concepts in psychology > Behaviour > Self-destructive behaviour / self-harm
F Concepts in psychology > Behaviour > Self-destructive behaviour / self-harm > Suicidal behaviour / suicide
J Health care, prevention, harm reduction and treatment > Risk and protective factors > Risk factors
J Health care, prevention, harm reduction and treatment > Harm reduction > Substance use harm reduction
J Health care, prevention, harm reduction and treatment > Health care programme, service or facility > Prison-based health service
MM-MO Crime and law > Justice system > Correctional system and facility > Prison
T Demographic characteristics > Person in prison (prisoner)
VA Geographic area > Europe > Ireland
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