Prisoner suicide

Signs that a prisoner may be at risk of suicide include giving away valued possessions, speaking as if they are not going to be around much longer even though they are not scheduled for release, withdrawing, becoming acutely intoxicated, having a recent history of severe addiction, being threatened or assaulted by other prisoners, having a history of psychiatric hospitalizations or suicide attempts, talking about death, having recently been arrested for an offense punishable by a long sentence or actually sentenced to a lengthy term, or having impulse-control problems.

Prisoners who have recently received bad news from home or are demonstrating an inability to adapt to the institutional environment may also be at higher risk.

The apparent motivations for prison suicide are most commonly fear of other inmates, of the consequences of one's crime, or imprisonment, and the loss of a significant relationship.

This may be explained by the fact that in Balkan countries the incarceration rate is relatively high – so the prisons are not populated by people that are particularly vulnerable – and the use of preventive detention is rather low.

[9][10] In Farmer v. Brennan, deliberate indifference was established as a standard between negligence and acting with purpose or intent, thus amounting basically to recklessness.

The Farmer decision has created difficulties for plaintiffs in proving suicide liability as a violation of constitutionally established civil rights.

[12] Case law provides that liability only exists if prison officials had subjective knowledge of (or at least willful blindness to) an inmate's serious medical need.