Suicidal behaviour in prisons: learning from Australian and international experiences

This article explores what progress researchers and policy makers have made towards understanding and responding to the problem of suicidal behaviour in custody over the last 15 years. It examines current program initiatives and strategies for minimising this behaviour. This has become an imperative issue for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) as they are in the process of developing their first prison (due to open mid 2008). The authors of this article were asked to prepare a report as part of the development of the prison. In developing a prison the ACT Government wanted to learn from the experiences of other jurisdictions including international 'best practice'. Australian prison system agenda has been dominated since the 1990s by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody which made 339 recommendations. These recommendations have been important for developing programs for intervention and prevention of suicidal behaviour for all inmates. This article examines the experiences of Australian jurisdictions over the last 15 years since the Royal Commission report was published. For the ACT Government learning from both international and domestic experiences is essential in developing a new prison.