Your assignment is to prepare and submit a paper on statistics of offenders to commit suicide.

Your assignment is to prepare and submit a paper on statistics of offenders to commit suicide. A more serious suicide problem in correctional facilities, which has come to the fore in recent times, is the gender disparity in the cases of prisoner self-harm and attempted suicide. It is rather intriguing that while they comprise only about 5% of the prison population, female prisoners are observed to attempt more self-harm and attempt suicide compared to males. Notably, between 20% and 24% of female prisoners self-harm while between 5% and 6% of male inmates self-harm every year. The study also found out that cases of self-harm were 30 times higher in female prisoners compared with the general UK population rates, which were reported to be at 0.6%. Hence, this study seeks to establish whether or not, female prisoners attempt suicide at a higher rate than male prisoners. Using the random sampling method due to its representativeness, the study intends to use questionnaires to conduct a social survey among prisoners, on their experiences of incidents of self-harm and suicide within prison walls. From the findings, suggestions will be made for prison officials, prison psychiatrists, counselors and governments on the interventions by which prison suicide and the gender-based disparities addressed.

The latest reports indicate worrying trends in the cases of suicide among prisoners and other people placed in different types of correctional facilities. The United Kingdom is not spared in this regard and has also reported the same statistics about prison suicide. Hanging has been noted as the most common method by which prisoners attempt suicide. Reports from different corners of the world concur that quite a significant proportion of prison deaths are suicide with those recently incarcerated, isolated detainees, pre-trial detainees and those under mental health services the most highly likely to attempt suicide (Way et al., 2001). The main objective of the proposed research is to establish the gender disparities in suicidal cases among prisoners aged 21 years and above. That is, the proposed research seeks to establish whether male prisoners aged above 21 years attempt suicide at higher rates than their female counterparts or vice versa. To achieve this objective, the proposed research will target several other minor objectives.