Muhammad Nasirruddin Taijadin (827223)
27/03/2021
SSYR 5013 – Recidivism Prevention
 Throughout the world, prison population is increasing year after year
 In 2018, there is an increase of
previous year
1.7% in prison population in the USA from the
 1.7% of 100,000 = 1,700
 One year = 365 days
 On average, at least 4 people are being sent to prison everyday
 In 2019, Malaysia has around 74,000 inmates which is also an increase from the
previous year
 Living in prison is not at all rainbows and sunshine
 It is a stressful environment
 This can lead to the development
of mental health disorder among inmates
 A study in England shows that there are a high prevalence of mental health
disorder such as major depressive disorder among inmates (especially among
substance abusive inmates) during their first month of imprisonment
 However, over time the symptoms tend to reduce for some of them
 In Malaysia, a study shows that there are 33.8% prevalence among female inmates
while in another study shows that there are 60% prevalence among male inmates
 These figures are very concerning
 The number of suicide cases also increases not only in prison but also after they
were released.
 A study in Australia suggests that there are 33.7% prevalence of suicide ideation
among inmates and 20.5% prevalence of suicide attempts
 Several studies have shown that there is significant relationship between the
presence of mental health disorders among inmates and the prevalence of suicidal
behaviour
 Cambridge defines suicide as: the act of killing oneself intentionally
 From a psychological perspective, suicide is behaviour and desire of taking
your own life to escape from an unbearable psychological pain
 What are the factors that drives an inmate to commit suicide?
 There are several factors that drives an inmate to commit suicide including social
factors and psychological factors
 One of the social factors of committing suicide in prison is lack of social support
 Inmates are being deprived from their social support, i.e. family, wife and children,
friends
 Losing social support may cause them to feel alone and abandoned hence this will
lead to developing mental health disorders which could also lead suicide if left
unchecked
 Another social factor is being bullied by other inmates
 Being a victim of bully diminishes one’s self esteem
 This may lead to feeling worthless and hopeless hence lead to developing mental
health disorders
 Next, the psychological factors
 One of them is type of crime committed
 Substance abusive inmates have higher tendency to develop mental health disorders
 Being deprived of substance on cold turkey may cause the development withdrawal
syndrome and anxiety which can lead to committing suicide
 Another psychological factor is childhood trauma
 Developmental psychologists believe that our belief system is the result of our
childhood experience
 Series of bad childhood experience such as sexual abuse, physical abuse and others
may cause a negative belief system
 Inmate with such belief system may believe that they are trapped in the cycle which
leads to feel worthless and hopeless
 The increasing cases of suicide in prison needs to be addressed and prevention steps
need to be taken
 One of the prevention steps that has been taken is:
 Changing the colour of the bedsheets to a brighter colour
 Back then, the colour of the bedsheets were dull
 So it blended in with the wall and the bedframe
 Most correctional staffs did not even notice that the bedsheet has been removed from
the bed and fashioned into a noose
 In USA, some facilities have changed their bedsheets to yellow
 This is to help the staffs to be more attentive on it
 Questions: How effective is this method? Is hanging themselves the only way of
committing suicide?
 Sometimes we forget that suicide
intention/desire to commit it
is not only the act but also the
 Hence, by only focusing the changes in the environment may not be as effective.
 Prevention steps on individual and psychological level need to be taken
 One, train the correctional staffs on mental health awareness and psychological
first aid
 Suicide did not happen overnight, instead it is a build up from a series of stressful
events
 This may help them to identify early signs of mental health disorders among
inmates such as behavioural changes, increasing of suicidal ideation etc.
 And it will also allow them to provide an immediate psychological first aid
 Next, implement more mental health practitioners such as counsellors, psychiatrists,
clinical psychologists or correctional psychologists in correctional facilities
 This would allow inmates to have better access to mental health service
 Each inmates has unique experience and individual needs
 Mental health practitioners can develop individual action plan to address these unique
experiences and cater to their individual needs
 In Malaysia currently, our mental health service in prisons are very lacking and mostly
caters to a collective need
 Mental health practitioners on loaned from the Ministry of Health only visited the prison
on a monthly basis
 This is also due to the lack of mental health practitioners within the Ministry of Health
itself
 In Singapore, they have Prison Housing Unit in collaboration with Institute of Mental
Health where they provide mental health service every day
 In UK, they have Prison Mental Health In-reach Teams
 Prison needs to improve their mental health service in order to reduce suicide
rates
 Improved mental health service will also help to prevent recidivism