274 10 Corrections and Prison Practices—Juvenile Forensicshas been clearly documented in the literature. However, currently there are no
concentrated efforts to address this issue in terms of prevention or intervention
measures. The following cases illustrate the gravity of the situation, depicting both
a male and female juvenile who resorted to suicide while incarcerated.
Within I year at Westchester County Jail in New York City, two juveniles committed
suicide while incarcerated. Nancy Blumenthal was 17 years old when she hanged herself
in her cell from her own bedsheet. She was being held in jail while she awaited trial for
robbery charges. Her bail had been revoked. Nancy was placed on a suicide watch while
she participated in a court-ordered psychiatric: evaluation. Following the evaluation, she
was placed in the psychiatric ward where she could be observed every 30 minutes.
During the investigation of her suicide, it was discovered that Nancy had been taking
the antidepressant Zoloft for 2 years prior to her incarceration. During her month in jail,
however, she was taken off of the drug.
Ivan Figueroa was another 17-year-old who committed suicide in the same jail within
3 months of Nancy's death. Similarly to Nancy, Ivan hanged himself in his jail cell. He
had been in jail tor 4 days and was awaiting trial for rape and assault charges. When he
was first arrested, he too was placed on a suicide watch. He was subsequently returned
to the general inmate population and soon committed suicide (Anonymous, 1997).Literature ReviewCases like Nancy's and Ivan's remind us that suicide among incarcerated juveniles
exists, needs to be examined and, ultimately, prevented. Adolescent suicide in gen-
eral has been a focal point of research over the past 2 decades. As a result of such close
scrutiny, the mental health field is far better equipped to assess, treat, and prevent
suicidal behavior than ever before. It appears, however, that examination of suicidal
behavior occurring among incarcerated juveniles is a particular concern that has not
received a great deal of research attention. Incarcerated adolescents have unique en-
vironmental, social, and interpersonal factors that render them especially susceptible
to suicidal ideation and behavior. Yet, as the literature illustrates, this population has
not been studied nor has it received the amount of clinical intervention for suicide
as has the genera] adolescent population.
The alarming suicide rate among adolescents has resulted in considerable re-
search regarding the incidence, prevalence, and causes of life-threatening behavior.
According to the National Center for Health Statistics (1997), adolescent suicide
has more than tripled in the past 3 decades. Some studies incorporate individuals
ages 15-24 in their investigations of adolescent suicide. Padgitt (1997) states that
within this age group, there are approximately 10,000 reported teen suicides a year
and estimates that there are between 100,000 and 200,000 adolescent suicide at-
tempts annually. Further, others note that every 78 seconds an adolescent attempts
suicide and every 90 seconds one succeeds (National Center for Health Statistics,
1996). Research has repeatedly shown that boys are far more likely than girls to
complete suicide; however, there is little gender difference in terms of suicidal
ideation.