• D Ritter, M Pesch, U Lewitzka, and B Jabs.
• Klinik und Poliklinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Universitätsklinikum Carl Gustav Carus, Fetscherstraße 74, 01307, Dresden, Deutschland. dirk.ritter@uniklinikum-dresden.de.
• Nervenarzt. 2016 May 1; 87 (5): 496-505.

BackgroundAlthough in recent years many efforts have been made in suicide prevention, suicidal ideation in prison is still a major problem. The present study is part of a project being carried out in Saxony, Germany on the investigation and prevention of suicide in prisons.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to determine whether the duration of imprisonment, personality traits and personality disorders have an influence on the suicidal ideation of prisoners.Material And MethodsIn this study 113 volunteers among prisoners from 6 prisons in Saxony participated in a structured interview and filled out several questionnaires on sociodemographic details, personality using the personality style and disorder inventory (PSSI) and the assessment of DSM-IV personality disorders (ADP-IV) questionnaire as well as attitudes towards suicide using the questionnaire on stressful social experiences (FBS) and the Viennese instrument for suicidality on correctional institutions (VISCI).ResultsSignificant correlations were found between personality traits and personality disorders and suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. A positive correlation was also found between personality disorders and scores in the VISCI. High scores in the PSSI were correlated with all aspects of suicidal ideation; however, length of time spent in prison and total duration of imprisonment appeared to have little impact on suicide parameters and were only correlated with the self-declared current suicidal ideation.DiscussionAlthough there were some limitations, this study could confirm data in the literature that personality disorders are associated with an increased risk of suicidal ideation in prisoners. The lack of association of suicidal thoughts as measured in this study with the total time spent in prison and duration of imprisonment is in contradiction to the results of other studies and warrants further investigation.

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