THE NON-LETAL AUTOAGRESSION IN PRISON ENVIRONMENT. ETHICAL ASPECTS OF HEALTH SERVICES FOR CONVICTS

Abstract

The prison environment is an additional risk factor in non-lethal autoagression increased frequency among convicts compared with the general population. This paper aims to define the socio -demographic characteristics of convicts who have completed the act by chemical means (poisoning with drug and other toxic substances) - regarded as substance abuse, compared with prisoners who have chosen to produce through physical means (plagues at various levels and / or ingestion of objects). In the period 1 January 2009 - 31 December 2009 were registered in UPU Sf. Ioan Emergency Hospital of Iasi, 771 patients with autolytic acts, of which 175 came from the Maximum Security Penitentiary Iaşi. For all patients were recorded the following variables: sex, age, date of presentation (month and day of the week) , the hour of the event, the number of previous autolytic attempts, psychiatric disorders, the method chosen, if the treatment has been accepted or declined and if required hospitalization or not. Data were processed with SPSS 10.0 for Windows. It was found that patients who used mechanical means had significantly higher mean age, had a relapse more frequently, had the maximum of records in May and February and on Monday as day of the week. The autoagression through substance abuse was carried out by younger patients, who had in rare cases a relapse episode, the act has occurred most often in May and September and on Saturday. Regardless of the means used most of these acts occurred in the morning when staff supervision is the largest. Taking into account the fact that many patients refuse treatment follows the hypothesis that many of such acts are demonstrative.

Keywords

• abuz de substante
• agresiune nonletala
• autoagresiune
• comportament suicidar
• politici de sanatate