Question: Why do the prisoners feel suicidal, is it because of what they have done or because they hate prison life?

Laura Hemming answered on 5 Jun 2018:

There are lots of reasons that any person might feel suicidal, but people that are in prison tend to have lots of additional reasons. Often prisoners can feel quite isolated as they can sometimes have little contact with friends and family outside of prison. People in prison also sometimes struggle to exercise or sleep properly, and both of these things are linked with poor mental health. Sometimes people may feel suicidal about the crime they’ve committed, but this is really down to the person themselves. I would say it could be a combination of both feeling guilt about what they’ve done and also the factors of prison life that can have adverse outcomes on mental health.