(JSAT); Mood Disorders; Personality Disorders;
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); Substance Use
DisordersFurther Readings
Bonner, R. L. (2000). Correctional suicide prevention in the
year 2000 and beyond. Suicide and Life-Threatening
Behavior, 30,370–376.
Daigle, M., Labelle, R., & Cote, G. (2006). Further evidence
of the validity of the Suicide Risk Assessment Scale for
prisoners. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry,
29,343–354.
Hayes, L. M. (2007). Jail suicide/mental health update.
National Institute of Corrections. Retrieved April 12,
2007, from http://www.nicic.org/Library/000001
Heikkinen, M., Aro., H., & Lonnqvist, J. (1993). Life events
and social support in suicide. Suicide and Life-
Threatening Behavior, 23,343–358.
Liebling, A. (1995). Vulnerability and prison suicide. British
Journal of Criminology, 35,73–187.
Polvi, N. H. (1997). Assessing risk of suicide in correctional
settings. In C. D. Webster & M. A. Jackson (Eds.),
Impulsivity: Theory, assessment, and treatment(pp.
278–301). New York: Guilford Press.
Sommers-Flanagan, J., & Sommers-Flanagan, R. (1995).
Intake interviewing with suicidal patients: A systematic
approach. Professional Psychology: Research and
Practice, 26,41–47.SUICIDEASSESSMENTMANUAL
FOR INMATES(SAMI)
The Suicide Assessment Manual for Inmates (SAMI)
is a new instrument designed to assess risk for suicide
attempts among individuals admitted to a pretrial
remand center or jail. The SAMI is a 20-item clinical
checklist of risk factors derived from the suicide
research literature. Initial research on the SAMI has
focused on its factor structure and predictive validity.
Suicide is the leading cause of death of inmates in
jail facilities. Research on suicide prevalence rates
indicates that the rate of suicide in an incarcerated pop-
ulation is higher than that in the general population,
with some estimates indicating the prevalence to be as
much as nine times higher in incarcerated populations.
In addition, the prevalence of suicide may be higher in
a population of remanded (pretrial) offenders than in apopulation of sentenced offenders. Suicide is a low
base rate behavior; therefore, it is difficult to predict
which individuals will attempt to commit suicide. It is,
however, important to be able to identify those inmates
who are at an increased risk for suicide on admission
to a correctional facility so that they may be classified
and housed accordingly.
Structured clinical guidelines are useful in attempt-
ing to determine which individuals are at an increased
risk for suicide. The SAMI was developed to provide
a framework of important variables that should be
assessed for each individual admitted to a pretrial
remand center or jail to determine that individual’s
risk for suicide within the next 24 hours. The SAMI is
a clinical checklist of risk factors for institutional sui-
cide attempts. It consists of 20 items that were identi-
fied by a review of the literature on suicide in general
as well as suicide in jails and prisons. The purpose of
the SAMI is to guide evaluators through important
information and variables that should be assessed to
determine an inmate’s risk for institutional suicide.
The SAMI was developed for use as a way to structure
professional judgment in the assessment of institu-
tional suicide risk.
Each of the 20 items contained in the SAMI can be
rated on a 3-point scale, with a score of 0 being asso-
ciated with low risk, a score of 1 being associated with
moderate risk, and a score of 2 being associated with
high risk with respect to the particular item. It is
important to note, however, that like many instru-
ments developed to structure professional judgment,
the item scores on the SAMI are not to be added but,
rather, are to be considered within the full context of
the individual, the institution, and the circumstances.
Both the self-report of the inmate as well as the obser-
vations and professional judgment of the evaluator are
to be considered for each item.
Extensive and thorough literature reviews have iden-
tified numerous variables that are associated with risk
for suicide in general as well as in jails and prisons,
including age; sex; marital status; history of drug or
alcohol abuse; psychiatric history; history of suicide
attempts; history of institutional suicide attempts;
family history of suicide; arrest history; history of
impulsive behavior; high-profile crime or position of
respect within the community; current intoxication;
concern about major life problems; feelings of hope-
lessness or excessive guilt; presence of psychotic symp-
toms or thought disorder; symptoms of depression,Suicide Assessment Manual for Inmates (SAMI)——— 785S-Cutler (Encyc)-45463.qxd 11/18/2007 12:44 PM Page 785