• S Frühwald, P Frottier, R Eher, M Aigner, K Gutierrez, and K Ritter.
• Klinische Abteilung für Sozialpsychiatrie und Evaluationsforschung, Universitätsklinik für Psychiatrie, AKH Wien, Osterreich. stefan.fruehwald@univie.ac.at
• Psychiatr Prax. 2000 May 1; 27 (4): 195-200.

ObjectiveAlthough incarceration is a high-risk situation for suicide all over the world, hardly any results have been published concerning the situation of custodial suicide in German-speaking countries.MethodsWe investigated the case notes of all suicides occuring in Austrian prisons between 1975 and 1996 (n= 207). Beside an evaluation of gender and preferred methods of suicide the suicide risk of different circumstances of custody was studied. Suicide rates of distinguishable, important subgroups of prisoners were calculated using the official statistical data of the Ministry of Justice.ResultsThe suicide rate for people on remand and offenders classified as mentally ill was 231/100,000 vs. 191/100,000, that was about eight times higher than the suicide rate in Austria's general population. The suicide rate for sentenced offenders was 80/100,000, about three times as high as the suicide rate in Austria's general population (1980-1990: 26.4/100,000). The suicide risk increased with the length of the announced sentence.ConclusionsThe suicide rate in custody was highest for prisoners on remand and mentally ill offenders. Female offenders had a high suicide risk, too. The common assumption that the suicide risk in jails and prisons is highest shortly after admission should be confirmed based on better methodology or be reconsidered.

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