Lifetime Prevalence of Prior Suicide Attempts in a Remanded Population and Relationship to Current Mental Illness

As part of an ongoing epidemiological investigation into the prevalence of mental illness among remanded offenders, data were collected on the lifetime prevalence of suicide behaviours. Out of 1151 inmates interviewed, 20.7% of males and 34.0% of females reported a prior suicide attempt. Age and gender standardized comparisons to the general population revealed remandees to be 11.24 times more likely to have a history of suicidality. Also, a greater proportion of suicide attempters met the diagnostic criteria for a mental disorder (75.8I%), compared to non-attempters (56.1 %). The most frequently occurring diagnosis in both groups was psychoactive substance abuse, but suicide attempters were more likely to meet the criteria for a mood or personality disorder. Persons with multiple previous attempts had a higher prevalence of mental illness compared with single attempters. Lifetime history of a suicide attempt was found to predict a current mental illness with 70.6% accuracy. Therefore, when it is impossible to conduct detailed diagnostic assessments, past history of suicide attempts could be effectively used as a marker for mental illness for purposes of special handling and placement within a remand setting. Determining whether there is a history of suicide attempts should be an obligatory item on a cursory medical review of all incoming offenders to support judgements concerning special mental health needs.