The direction of self-harmful behavior of prisoners in remand prisons and the reasons for its manifestation

The article examines the direction of self-harmful behavior of prisoners in a remand prisons, as well as various reasons for its manifestation. An analysis was carried out of various classifications of manifestations of self-harmful behavior depending on its causes (motives), both among the population and among persons held in institutions of the penitentiary system. The considered classifications allow us to talk about the different orientation of acts of self-harm — towards interaction with the environment, or towards satisfying the internal needs of the individual. To identify and classify the direction of acts of self-harm of persons placed in custody, an analysis of materials of acts of self-harm committed by prisoners held in a remand prisons was carried out. It was revealed that acts of self-harm have an internal (satisfying the internal needs of the self-aggressor) or external (providing any impact on the environment of the self-aggressor) orientation. Acts of an external orientation include demonstrative, simulative acts, acts committed on the instructions of third parties. Acts of internal orientation include relaxation, masochistic acts, as well as acts committed due to psychiatric reasons. An analysis was carried out of the influence of the adaptation of the self-aggressor to the conditions of detention, as well as the presence of experience of serving a sentence in places of deprivation of liberty on the direction of the act of self-harm. It has been established that the highest proportion of externally oriented acts occurs after the adaptation period of being in an institution. Among persons with experience of serving sentences in places of deprivation of liberty, acts of external orientation also predominate. The share of internally oriented acts is highest during the period of up to 3 months of detention and decreases as the self-aggressors adapt to the conditions of detention. The results obtained made it possible to make practical recommendations for the prevention of self-harmful behavior of persons placed in custody, taking into account the direction of various acts of self-harm